Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum addresses fentanyl production following Trump’s tariff threat

Mexico is not the only source of fentanyl, its president said Tuesday at a news conference for the country’s anti-drug campaign, just weeks after President-elect Donald Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on drug trafficking.

“So far we have not confirmed that precursors are arriving, because most of the precursors come from Asia, and that the entire process is manufactured here in Mexico,” said president Claudia Sheinbaum. “The laboratories that have been dismantled in our country are mainly for methamphetamine or crystal (meth).”

Sheinbaum stressed that his government was committed to combating the illegal distribution of drugs. In recent weeks, Mexican authorities have announced several large seizures of fentanyl (a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin) as well as precursor chemicals. Authorities said last month that the seizure of more than a ton of fentanyl pills was the largest in the history of the country.

At the news conference, Sheinbaum said that while there are concerns about fentanyl in Mexico, the problem is not as widespread as in the United States, where it has been linked to tens of thousands of overdose deaths.

Trump, who will begin his second term on January 20He said he intends to impose 25% tariffs on Mexican exports if the country fails to contain drug and migrant flows.

He US Drug Enforcement Administration says Mexican cartels are “at the heart” of a synthetic narcotics crisis in the United States.

The powerful Sinaloa Cartel “dominates the fentanyl market through its manipulation of the global supply chain and the proliferation of clandestine fentanyl laboratories in Mexico,” it said in its 2024 National Drug Threat Assessment.

The cartel has been “producing large quantities of fentanyl since at least 2012,” the DEA said.

Outgoing U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar said at a news conference Monday that he had no doubt the drug was manufactured in Mexico.

“I know what is happening, that there is fentanyl in Mexico, and I also know that it is produced here,” he said.

In a 2024 interview with “60 Minutes,” the former president of Mexico Andrés Manuel López He echoed Sheinbaum’s position.

“Fentanyl is produced in the United States, Canada and Mexico. And the chemical precursors come from Asia,” said Manuel López.