Mexico Concerned Trump May Order Military Strike on Cartels

As Mexico braces for the return of President-elect Donald Trump, Mexican officials wonder if Trump's threats of military action against the drug cartels will become a reality, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

According to former Defense Secretary Mark Esper's memoir, Trump had floated the idea of using the military to get rid of drug labs owned by cartels during his first administration but was ultimately talked out of it. This time, Mexican officials are cautious of Trump’s plans resurfacing.

Mexico’s new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, quickly shot down the idea of U.S. military assault.“There won’t be an invasion,” Sheinbaum said at a recent news conference. “It’s not going to happen.”

Yet Trump’s pick to be the ambassador to Mexico, former Green Beret Ronald D. Johnson, had supported the president-elect’s aggressive policies in the past. Trump’s pick for national security adviser, Rep Mike Waltz. R-Fla., has suggested military action to tackle the cartels. In 2023, Waltz introduced legislation for an Authorization for Use of Military Force against Mexican cartels for trafficking lethal fentanyl.

Jorge Castañeda, a former foreign minister in Mexico, wrote regarding the Johnson pick that “his resume is the message” regarding Trump’s intentions. “Johnson has no experience in economic, commercial or financial matters. He is not coming to Mexico for that.”

Trump made similar overtures during his campaign, floating the idea of a naval embargo to prevent drugs from crossing the border and designate cartels and their leaders as foreign terrorists. In his campaign platform, Trump said he would order the Pentagon to use “special forces, cyberwarfare, and other covert and overt actions to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership, infrastructure, and operations.”

“Unlike the sitting president, Joe Biden, President-elect Trump believes his utmost priority is the safety and security of American citizens, and he will, in fact, take the necessary actions to uphold this responsibility,” said Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.

In November, Trump announced his administration's intention to roll out a massive campaign to inform Americans of the dangers of fentanyl. He followed with a warning to noncompliant nations of his border crackdown that he would impose on his first day in office a 25% tariff on all imports from Canada and Mexico.

James Morley III ✉

James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature. 

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