State Dept: Freeze Did Not Stall Anti-Narcotics Program in Mexico

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has directed a review of all foreign assistance programs, which has placed the training portion in a temporary limbo. While that review is taking place, Mexican officials who have already been trained are presumably using that expertise to continue to screen containers, according to the State Department official.

The program in question provided Mexico’s navy with training and equipment to improve the anti-narcotics screening of cargo entering and leaving the Port of Manzanillo, which is located on the Pacific Ocean and is one of the country’s busiest ports, responsible for handling cargo for the Mexico City area. The port also has served as an entry point for smugglers bringing in Chinese chemical precursors for fentanyl, methamphetamine, and synthetic opioids so the drugs can made in Mexican labs.

The project, known as the Container Control Programme, is a joint initiative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the World Customs Organization. The U.S. provided nearly $1 million to launch the project at the Port of Manzanillo in 2023. The initiative had already provided equipment and specialized training and was just two months from completion when the Trump freeze on foreign aid took effect Jan. 20, according to a State Department official.

Considering that the program had been going on for almost two years, Mexican officials who were already trained should have acquired the skills as to how to continue to inspect the containers even amid the pause on U.S. foreign assistance, the State Department pointed out.  

“We expect Mexican officials in Manzanillo to continue employing the expertise and equipment the U.S. government has provided to stop the flow of deadly drugs and precursor chemicals used in their production in Mexico,” the State Department official told RCP. “As neighbors, we must work together to address our most pressing challenges, including securing our borders and confronting the drug trafficking, alien smuggling, and arms trafficking that harm our communities.”

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the World Customs Organization, and the Mexican Foreign Ministry did not respond to RCP’s inquiries.

A Monday Reuters report, headlined “Trump aid freeze disrupts anti-narcotics program at Mexican ports,” claimed that the foreign aid freeze had stalled the Container Control Programme and paused a roll-out planned for two additional Mexican seaports – Lazaro Cardenas and Veracruz, which were to be added in February.

Over the last year, the program had already notched two major interdictions. Mexican authorities made several large seizures of chemicals used in the production of methamphetamine destined for the United States. The Mexican authorities intercepted 88 tons of precursor chemicals in July 2024 and another 25 tons in December 2024.

Funding for the container inspection training program was suspended Jan. 20 as part of Trump’s executive order reevaluating foreign assistance to programs that are “efficient and consistent with U.S. foreign policy” under Trump’s American First agenda, the State Department official noted.

The State Department has made exceptions for several of anti-narcotics programs, including $7.8 million in waivers for projects in Mexico funded by its Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, or INL, to counter production and trafficking of fentanyl and to dismantle terrorist criminal organizations. The State Department, whose INL has an approximately $50 million total budget for Mexico, said additional waivers are under review, though it did not indicate which programs might get exceptions.

Trump has made stopping the flow of illegal fentanyl into the United States a top priority, threatening 25% tariffs on Mexican and most Canadian imports to pressure the two countries to do more to curb illegal immigration and drug smuggling. Last week, the State Department announced the designation of several Mexican entities, including the Sinaloa and the Jalisco New Generation cartels, as foreign terrorist organizations.