Overview
- This week at the American Society of Mexico convention, U.S. Ambassador Ronald Johnson said Washington wants to deepen cooperation with Mexico without violating Mexican sovereignty.
- Johnson defended the Trump administration’s decision to label several cartels as foreign terrorist organizations because those labels open legal and financial ways to target cartel money, front companies and facilitators.
- He said enforcement will shift from hunting individuals to dismantling whole criminal networks, including traffickers, money launderers, shell companies and other facilitators.
- Mexican authorities reported large seizures between October 2024 and August 31 totaling 534 tonnes on land—including more than 2.5 tonnes and 9.5 million fentanyl pills—and 88 tonnes of maritime cocaine, figures Johnson cited as evidence of joint progress.
- Johnson warned of unnamed foreign actors trying to undermine the U.S.-Mexico partnership and framed closer coordination as vital to trade, migration management and a more secure border given the countries’ more than $1 trillion in annual commerce.