President Trump on The Major Transit, and Illicit Drug Producing Countries of The World

Presidential Determination on Major Drug Transit or Major Illicit Drug Producing Countries for Fiscal Year 2026

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States; including section 706(1) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 2003 (Public Law 107-228) (FRAA), I hereby identify the following countries as major drug transit or major illicit drug producing countries: Afghanistan, The Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Burma, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.

A country’s presence on the foregoing list is not necessarily a reflection of its government’s counterdrug efforts or level of cooperation with the United States.  Consistent with the statutory definition of a major drug transit or major illicit drug producing country set forth in sections 481(e)(2) and 481(e)(5) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended (Public Law 87-195) (FAA), the reason countries are placed on the list is the combination of geographic, commercial, and economic factors that allow drugs or precursor chemicals to be transited or produced, even if a government has engaged in robust and diligent narcotics control and law enforcement measures.

Pursuant to section 706(2)(A) of the FRAA, I hereby designate Afghanistan, Bolivia, Burma, Colombia, and Venezuela as having failed demonstrably during the previous 12 months to both adhere to their obligations under international counternarcotics agreements and to take the measures required by section 489(a)(1) of the FAA.  Included with this determination are justifications for the designations of Afghanistan, Bolivia, Burma, Colombia, and Venezuela, as required by section 706(2)(B) of the FRAA.  I have also determined, in accordance with the provisions of section 706(3)(A) of the FRAA, that United States assistance to Bolivia, Burma, Colombia, and Venezuela is vital to the national interests of the United States.

Transnational organized crime’s trafficking of fentanyl and other deadly illicit drugs into the United States has created a national emergency, including a public health crisis in the United States that remains the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 44.  More than 40 percent of Americans know someone who has died from an opioid overdose, and in 2024 the United States averaged over 200 deaths daily due to illicit drugs.

This remains unacceptable, and my Administration is deploying every aspect of American power and unprecedented resources to defeat this threat to our Nation.

First, I have secured our borders using the full range of law enforcement and military resources necessary to safeguard our Nation’s security and sovereignty.  For the first time in 4 years, our border is no longer an open sieve for drug terrorist cartels, human traffickers, and all others who would do our country harm.

American lives are being saved, with overdose deaths finally starting to recede significantly for the first time in over a decade.

I have also marshalled United States economic strength to compel greater cooperation from our North American neighbors to confront the drug threat and do their part.  In Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney responded by appointing a fentanyl czar and proposing legislation to increase the inspection powers of law enforcement, but more action is needed to stop fentanyl and other drugs from crossing our border and to arrest drug criminals exploiting Canadian territory.  In Mexico, President Claudia Sheinbaum has increased cooperation to confront the powerful cartels that poison both our countries with drugs and violence.

Mexico has surged 10,000 National Guard troops to our shared border, achieved major fentanyl and precursor chemical seizures, and transferred 29 high-value targets – including major cartel figures – to United States custody to stand trial for their crimes.  My Administration has worked closely with President Sheinbaum to achieve the most secure southwest border in history, saving lives and protecting communities from the scourge of fentanyl.

This surge in Mexico’s efforts must be sustained and institutionalized.  Much more remains to be done by Mexico’s government to target cartel leadership, along with their clandestine drug labs, precursor chemical supply chains, and illicit finances.  Over the next year, the United States will expect to see additional, aggressive efforts by Mexico to hold cartel leaders accountable and disrupt the illicit networks engaged in drug production and trafficking.

The United States will work with Mexico and other countries to target these national security threats cooperatively where we can, and through our own sovereign authorities where necessary.

My decision to identify Mexico’s drug cartels and other transnational criminal organizations as foreign terrorist organizations opened new authorities for the United States to dismantle these groups using sanctions, expanded prosecution authorities, and other resources.  My Administration has also implemented visa restrictions against family members and close associates of drug traffickers to safeguard our country.

While the United States will devote all necessary resources to punish criminals enabling the production, transportation, and smuggling of illicit drugs across our borders, I will also call on countries where these drugs originate and transit to fulfill their obligations and shut off these supplies – or face serious consequences.

The PRC’s role as the world’s largest source of precursor chemicals fueling illicit fentanyl production has been well documented.  For too long, the PRC has enabled illicit fentanyl production in Mexico and elsewhere by subsidizing the export of the precursor chemicals needed to produce these deadly drugs and failing to prevent Chinese companies from selling these precursors to known criminal cartels.

For this reason, I took bold action to hold Beijing accountable by implementing an additional 20 percent tariff on the PRC for their failure to enact tangible, consequential reforms to stem the flow of precursor chemicals.  I also signed an Executive Order eliminating the duty-free de minimis treatment for low-value imports from the PRC, which Chinese companies had used to hide illicit substances in the flow of legitimate commerce.

The PRC is also a major supplier fueling global epidemics of other synthetic narcotics, including nitazenes and methamphetamine.  The PRC’s leadership can and must take stronger and sustained action to cut down these chemical flows and prosecute the drug criminals facilitating them.

In Colombia, coca cultivation and cocaine production have surged to all-time records under President Gustavo Petro, and his failed attempts to seek accommodations with narco-terrorist groups only exacerbated the crisis.  Under President Petro’s leadership, coca cultivation and cocaine production have reached record highs while Colombia’s government failed to meet even its own vastly reduced coca eradication goals, undermining years of mutually beneficial cooperation between our two countries against narco-terrorists.

For this reason, I have designated Colombia as having failed demonstrably to meet its drug control obligations.  Colombia’s security institutions and municipal authorities continue to show skill and courage in confronting terrorist and criminal groups, and the United States values the service and sacrifice of their dedicated public servants across all levels of government.

The failure of Colombia to meet its drug control obligations over the past year rests solely with its political leadership.  I will consider changing this designation if Colombia’s government takes more aggressive action to eradicate coca and reduce cocaine production and trafficking, as well as hold those producing, trafficking, and benefiting from the production of cocaine responsible, including through improved cooperation with the United States to bring the leaders of Colombian criminal organizations to justice.

In Venezuela, the criminal regime of indicted drug trafficker Nicolás Maduro leads one of the largest cocaine trafficking networks in the world, and the United States will continue to seek to bring Maduro and other members of his complicit regime to justice for their crimes.  We will also target Venezuelan foreign terrorist organizations such as Tren de Aragua and purge them from our country.

Bolivia’s government has taken some positive steps to increase cocaine seizures and to work with United States law enforcement to bring drug criminals to justice, including Maximiliano Dávila, the country’s corrupt former anti-drug chief.  However, much work remains for Bolivia to consistently uphold its counterdrug commitments and ensure that it is not a safe haven for narco-trafficking groups to thrive.

In Afghanistan, despite the Taliban’s announced ban on illegal drugs, drug stockpiles and ongoing production – including expanding production of methamphetamine – have sustained the flow of drugs to international markets.

Revenue from this drug trade funds transnational criminal groups and supports international terrorists.  Some members of the Taliban continue to profit from this trade, and I am once again designating Afghanistan as having failed demonstrably to uphold its drug control obligations given the serious threats to United States interests and international security.

September 15, 2025

Source

The Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats

U.S Secretary Of State, Antony J. Blinken Opening Remarks at a Virtual Ministerial Meeting to Launch the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drugs

Synthetic drugs are the number one killer of Americans aged 18 to 49

Countries in the Western Hemisphere are working with the Organization of American States to develop and implement early warning systems to detect emerging synthetic drug use

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you very much.  Colleagues, on behalf of President Biden, welcome.  Welcome to the launch of the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats.  We are grateful to the senior government officials from more than 80 countries, as well as leaders from over a dozen regional and international organizations for joining us (inaudible).

We feel this acutely in the United States.  Synthetic drugs are the number one killer of Americans aged 18 to 49.  And it’s almost worth pausing on that fact.  The number one killer of Americans aged 18 to 49 – synthetic drugs, notably fentanyl.

Nearly 110,000 Americans died last year of a drug overdose.  Two-thirds of those deaths involved synthetic opioids.  For the individuals, the families, the communities affected, the pain caused by these deaths and by the millions who suffer with substance use is immeasurable.  It’s also inflicting a massive economic toll – nearly $1.5 trillion in the United States in 2020 alone, according to a report by our Congress; our public health system, our criminal justice system all bearing the costs.

That’s why President Biden has made it a top priority for us to tackle two of the critical drivers of this epidemic in the United States: untreated addiction, and drug trafficking.  In 2022 our administration released a National Drug Control Strategy that for the first time the United States embraces harm reduction efforts that meet people where they are and engages them in care and services. 

America is far from alone in facing this challenge.  According to the United Nations, more than 34 million people around the world use methamphetamines or other synthetic stimulants annually.

And every region is experiencing an alarming rise in other synthetic drugs.  In Africa, it’s tramadol; in the Middle East, fake Captagon pills; in Asia, Ketamine.

One of the main reasons we wanted to come together today is because we believe the United States is a canary in the coal mine when it comes to fentanyl, an exceptionally addictive and deadly synthetic drug.  Having saturated the United States market, transnational criminal enterprises are turning elsewhere to expand their profits.  If we don’t act together with fierce urgency, more communities around the world will bear the catastrophic costs that are already affecting so many American cities, so many American towns.

The criminal organizations that traffic synthetic drugs are extremely adept at exploiting weak links in our interconnected global system.  When one government aggressively restricts the precursor chemical, traffickers simply buy it elsewhere.  When one country closes off a transit route, traffickers quickly shift to another.  This is the definition of a problem that no country can solve alone.  That’s why we’re creating this global coalition.

We’re focused on three key areas: first, preventing the illicit manufacture and trafficking of synthetic drugs; second, detecting emerging threats and patterns of use; and third, advancing public health interventions and services to prevent and reduce drug use, to save lives, to support recovery for people who use drugs.

Now, of course, we’re not starting from scratch.  For years, governments, regional and international organizations, health workers, and communities have been coming up with innovative solutions on each of these priorities.  Countries in the Western Hemisphere are working with the Organization of American States to develop and implement early warning systems to detect emerging synthetic drug use.

Take-home naloxone kits, pioneered by countries in Europe, have been adopted by countries in Central Asia and other regions.  The International Narcotics Control Board is promoting intelligence sharing on the trafficking of precursors to help governments cooperate on interdictions and on prosecutions.  This coalition – this coalition is intended to build on these and other important efforts, not take their place, including efforts in the United States, which are among those shared lessons learned.

I’ll give just one example.  In April, we hosted the first ever City Summit of the Americas in Denver, Colorado.  We brought together more than 250 mayors from across our hemisphere, along with governors, tribal and indigenous officials, leaders from civil society and the private sector.  One of the sessions that I attended focused on local efforts to combat the fentanyl epidemic.

The city of Denver’s crime lab shared how it tracks the emergence of new synthetic drugs and overdoses.  Mayors from Canada, from Ecuador, and Mexico spoke to their strategies to tackle the rise in synthetic drug use.  This is precisely the kind of collaboration that we’ll foster through this global coalition, while championing other voluntary best practices like improved information sharing between governments and the private sector, better labeling and “Know Your Customer” protocols to help prevent the diversion of precursors into illicit use.

Today, in addition to this ministerial meeting, we’ll convene three expert panels.  The panel discussions will help define the goals of distinct working groups – one for each of the coalition’s major lines of effort – which will carry our collaborative efforts forward over the coming months.

Then in September, we plan to host an in-person meeting of this coalition on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Week, where the working groups will report on their progress and help us chart a way forward.

At every step, our focus will be on developing practical policies, diminishing the public health and public security threats posed by synthetic drugs, improving the lives of our people (inaudible) It’s not enough to work with governments and international organizations.  We need to partner with the private sector, including chemical manufacturers, shipping companies, social media platforms - because this illicit trade is built on the pillars of legitimate global commerce.

Most synthetic drugs are produced from chemicals that are used legally in making pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, household products.  Traffickers advertise synthetic drugs on social media, they use online apps to communicate with prospective buyers and collect payments.

We also need to partner with hospitals and clinics, emergency departments, mental health professionals, and other public health stakeholders who are saving lives every single day while providing treatment and recovery support efforts.  And we need civil society at the table, including the community-based organizations that are on the front lines of this effort.

I mentioned a few minutes ago my meeting with city officials from the Americas who are developing these innovative responses to threats from synthetic drugs.  One of them who really stayed with me was Shawna Darling.  She’s a public health official from Denver.  She and her team drive a bright purple van that I got a chance to see, a clinic on wheels among the city’s underdeveloped neighborhoods, bringing services directly to vulnerable communities.  They distribute fentanyl test strips and naloxone.  They connect individuals with treatment and recovery programs.  They share information about dangerous new synthetic drugs.

Shawna explained to me that one of the reasons she’s been able to build trust with many of these vulnerable people is because she walked in their shoes.  She herself struggled with addiction for 13 years.  She spent time in and out of jail.  And she told me, and I quote, “I’ve learned what it feels like to be defeated and desperate, but I was able to get support and care that I needed, and now I’m able to offer that to others.”

When we talk about the hundreds of thousands of lives this epidemic takes every year, and the millions of families it’s ravaging, it’s easy to lose sight of the human beings behind the numbers.  So let’s remember that while this coalition is about protecting our citizens’ security, their health, their prosperity, it’s also about saving people’s lives, saving their futures – people who could be our neighbors, our friends, our loved ones; individuals who, like Shawna, have so much to contribute to their communities.

I can’t think of a more important or urgent undertaking for us, and I can’t thank you enough for joining this session, joining this coalition, and for the work that we’ll do together.  Thanks, everyone.

Source