U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping foreign aid freeze has stalled a United Nations program in Mexico aimed at stopping imported fentanyl chemicals from reaching the country's drug cartels, according to eight people familiar with the situation. It’s one of several U.S. counternarcotics efforts in Mexico derailed in recent weeks by the stop-work order. - REUTERS
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00:00This Mexican Navy boat patrols the port of Manzanillo on the country's Pacific coast.
00:06Manzanillo is Mexico's biggest container port and has long been a magnet for narcotics traffic.
00:11And aid sources told Reuters U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping freeze on foreign aid
00:16has stalled a United Nations program aimed at stopping imported precursor chemicals
00:20from reaching Mexican drug cartels.
00:22Those precursors, often from China, arrive through the port to supply illicit drug labs
00:27making fentanyl and methamphetamine.
00:29Two people who spoke to Reuters said the U.S. provided some $800,000 in funding
00:33to launch the project at the port of Manzanillo in 2023.
00:36Four of the sources said the U.S. funding freeze has also shelved, for now,
00:40future training and equipment donations to Manzanillo.
00:42Two sources said the port was slated to receive additional cargo scanners and drug testing equipment.
00:47White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly did not answer emailed questions from Reuters
00:51about the administration's decision to halt funding for the Mexican port program.
00:55She did say that Trump is acting to secure the border and cut federal spending.
00:59The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, which runs the container program,
01:03did not respond to a request for comment, nor did Mexico's presidency and its foreign ministry.
01:08The stalling of the U.N. cargo program in Mexico is part of a broader pause
01:11in U.S.-funded anti-narcotics efforts in Mexico,
01:14after Trump ordered a global freeze on foreign aid the day he took office.
01:18Other activities halted by the stop work order include U.S. training of Mexican authorities
01:22to find and dismantle clandestine fentanyl labs,
01:25and U.S. donations of drug-sniffing canines to Mexico.
01:28The Trump administration has since issued waivers to resume funding for some security programs worldwide.
01:33In Mexico, that includes $7.8 million in projects funded by the State Department that aim
01:46But the rest of the drug interdiction program's approximately $50 million budget for Mexico,
01:51which is destined to disrupting the fentanyl supply chain, remains frozen.
01:55Three sources said the U.N. container control program in Mexico has not received a waiver from the freeze.