Overview
- The U.S. Embassy in Mexico published a report on Oct. 29 that credited intensified bilateral cooperation under President Trump with major results, including more than 50,000 firearms and 2.9 million rounds seized and over 10,000 arrests tied to arms trafficking.
- The diplomatic statement said Mexican authorities seized over 500 metric tons of illicit drugs, including about 9.5 million fentanyl pills, and that maritime operations with U.S. Coast Guard and Navy partners secured roughly 90 tons of cocaine and cut sea trafficking by over 95 percent.
- U.S. officials reported a 95 percent drop in U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions on the southwest border in the past 12 months and credited stricter policies and joint enforcement with a 40 percent fall in U.S. overdose deaths, figures the embassy said translated into more than 40,000 lives saved.
- China’s embassy in Mexico responded with a formal statement accusing the United States of helping feed cartel violence through U.S. drug demand and illegal arms flows and rejected Ambassador Ronald Johnson’s public suggestion that China would benefit from instability in Mexico.
- The public exchange follows Johnson’s remarks at the Milken investors conference and raises diplomatic friction that could affect trade and investment ties even as both countries continue operational security cooperation and extradition transfers.