Trump’s Different Messages to Mexico, Canada in New Drug Warning - Newsweek

President Donald Trump had differing messages for Mexico and Canada in a new drug trafficking warning issued on Wednesday through the State Department.

The Trump administration has made cracking down on illicit drugs, especially fentanyl, a central pillar of its law enforcement and border security agenda. The comments were included within a Presidential Determination on Major Drug Transit or Major Illicit Drug Producing Countries for Fiscal Year 2027 media note, in which Trump identified several countries, including Mexico, as "major drug transit or major illicit drug producing countries."

The countries included within the list were: Afghanistan, The Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Burma, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.

Canada was not listed; however, Trump called out the nation in his message.

"While my Administration has successfully secured our borders from invasion, Canada and Mexico need to do far more to stop the flows of deadly drugs into our country," he said. "Fentanyl continues to be illicitly produced in clandestine Canadian labs, and precursor chemicals and synthetic drugs continue to enter the United States through Canada. Canada needs to take meaningful action to dismantle drug labs, strengthen supply chain security, and degrade criminal networks and Chinese gangs operating along our northern border."

The stern words come as tensions escalate between Canada and the United States during an ongoing trade war that has seen worsening tariffs for both sides.

Newsweek reached out to the White House and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's office via email for comment.

Meanwhile, although Trump called for stronger drug enforcement efforts from Mexico, he also praised Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum's administration.

"We recognize Mexican President Sheinbaum’s administration for seizing greater volumes of drugs, dismantling clandestine laboratories, and deploying additional law enforcement and military resources to our shared border," he said in the message. "Additionally, United States-Mexican security cooperation has helped eliminate some of the world’s most notorious cartel bosses, including “El Mencho.” However, Mexico must take additional action against the narcoterrorist organizations that dominate vast areas of its territory and continue to threaten the American people."

The message encouraged Mexico to bolster supply chain integrity and increase investments in its security forces.

Despite Trump's stern words about drugs entering the U.S. from Canada, data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shows that drug seizures along the U.S.-Mexico border far outweigh those along the northern border with Canada.

The CBP data does not include Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) data and includes only seizures at U.S. ports of entry. The DEA data encompasses clandestine labs and domestic arrests.

According to the CBP data, 12,000 pounds of drugs have been seized along the U.S.'s northern border with Canada so far this year, with marijuana accounting for nearly 10,000 pounds of the drugs seized, followed by cocaine at 872 pounds and methamphetamine at 166 pounds. A category titled "other drugs" accounted for 1,100 pounds. Fentanyl accounted for 5 pounds worth of drug seizures along the U.S.'s northern border.

Last year, more than 16,000 pounds of drugs were seized.

CBP data for the U.S. border with Mexico tells a far different story. So far this year, 236,000 pounds of drugs have been seized at the border, around 19,000 pounds less than in all of 2025.

Methamphetamine led the seizures at 136,000 pounds, followed by marijuana at 45,000 pounds, cocaine at 41,000 pounds, and fentanyl at nearly 10,000 pounds.

Trump claimed the U.S. southern border was "the most sealed and secure in American history" because of his administration's efforts. However, in 2024, under the Biden administration, 275,000 pounds of drugs were seized at the U.S.-Mexico border, compared to 237,000 pounds to date this year, and 256,000 pounds under Trump in 2025.

Drug enforcement efforts at the U.S. borders and within the country are expected to continue, with Trump saying in the new message that "we are just getting started."

"The narcoterrorists responsible for this invasion are either dead, in jail, or living in fear knowing they will be next to face American justice," he said. "I have unleashed the strongest military in the history of the world to strike narcoterrorists wherever they threaten our country. Behind the might of the American military, my Administration has destroyed cartel infrastructure, shut down former trafficking highways across sea and land borders, and captured and killed hundreds of the most vicious narcoterrorists."

It remains unclear how Canada will respond to the message and if its drug enforcement efforts will change going forward.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Gabe Whisnant and Sam Wilson.