Apparently, Trump's thinking about bombing Mexico now

The Trump administration is reportedly considering unilateral drone strikes on Mexico purportedly to combat drug cartels trafficking fentanyl. If the strikes occur without Mexican cooperation, it would be the latest instance of the administration creating friction with longtime American allies.

NBC News reports that discussions between the Trump White House and officials in the defense and intelligence agencies are underway, according to sources within the military, law enforcement, and intelligence areas.

Currently, the U.S. is making surveillance flights as part of an intelligence collecting operation against the cartels, but those are being done with Mexican cooperation. A former official told the outlet the flights are being used to “build a target deck.”

Experts told NBC that drone strikes aren’t a good way to combat illegal drug trafficking.

“Dropping bombs is seductive but accomplishes not very much and comes with enormous risk,” Vanda Felbab-Brown, a Brookings Institution expert on narcotics trafficking, told NBC News.

Mike Vigil, former head of DEA international operations, said that the drugs being transported are so small and portable that they can quickly be moved around in the case of a strike. 

“It’s not a military problem. It’s more of a law enforcement problem,” he explained.

Scandal-plagued Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly warned Mexico’s top military officials in February that the U.S. was prepared to take unilateral action against the cartels. The Wall Street Journal reported that their sources who were briefed on the call told them Mexican officials were “shocked and angered” by the suggestion the U.S. military could act militarily against its southern neighbor.

President Donald Trump has long been obsessed with attacking Mexican targets. Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper revealed in his 2022 book that in 2020 Trump twice asked him about using missiles to “destroy the drug labs” in Mexico.

While the U.S. has worked with Mexico on fighting the drug problem, a military attack on the level of drone strikes would be an escalation and a provocation.

Under Trump, traditional American allies have been repeatedly antagonized. Canadian sentiment has turned against the U.S. after Trump introduced new tariffs and has repeatedly invoked the notion of taking over the sovereign nation. Hostilities with Denmark have flared after Trump brought up the idea of occupying Greenland.

Trump has also caused tempers to flare with longstanding American trading partners in the European Union and across Asia with his decision to impose tariffs on multiple goods. The tariffs have caused massive stock market drops and will cause the prices of many goods to increase.

The core justification for possible drone strikes in Mexico stands on even shakier ground beyond upsetting allies. Under the Biden administration, deaths from fentanyl and other substances blamed for overdoses began to decline in 2024.

That reversed a trend that Trump failed to combat in his first term, when he ran for office promising to put an end to the opioid crisis. That never happened.