Trump names India, Pakistan among 23 major illegal drug-producing countries
US said the designations were based on a combination of geographic, commercial and economic factors that make drug production or transit possible.
US President Donald Trump has named India, Pakistan, China and Afghanistan among 23 nations designated as “major drug transit or major illicit drug producing countries,” warning that the production and trafficking of narcotics and precursor chemicals from these countries threatens the safety of the United States and its citizens.
In a “Presidential Determination” submitted to Congress on Monday, Trump said the list, known in Washington as the “Major’s List”, identifies countries that are either primary sources or key transit points for illicit drugs entering the United States.
The nations named are Afghanistan, The Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Burma, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Peru and Venezuela.
The White House said the designations were based on a combination of geographic, commercial and economic factors that make drug production or transit possible, “even if a government has engaged in robust and diligent narcotics control and law enforcement measures.” The State Department clarified that inclusion on the list does not necessarily reflect a lack of cooperation with the US.
Five countries ‘failed demonstrably’
Trump singled out five nations — Afghanistan, Bolivia, Burma, Colombia and Venezuela — as having “failed demonstrably” over the past 12 months to uphold international counternarcotics obligations.
On Afghanistan, Trump dismissed the Taliban’s much-publicised drug ban, saying stockpiles and ongoing methamphetamine production continued to sustain international markets and fund terrorism. “Some members of the Taliban continue to profit from this trade, and I am once again designating Afghanistan as having failed demonstrably to uphold its drug control obligations,” he said.
In Colombia, Trump accused President Gustavo Petro’s administration of presiding over record-high coca cultivation and cocaine output, blaming political leadership for undermining years of joint anti-narcotics efforts. Venezuela, he said, remained a hub of cocaine trafficking under Nicolás Maduro’s “criminal regime.”
Sharp criticism of China
Trump directed some of his harshest words at China, calling it the “world’s largest source” of precursor chemicals used in fentanyl production. He said Beijing’s failure to curb the export of these chemicals has fuelled a surge in fentanyl trafficking through Mexico and into the US.
“The Chinese leadership can and must take stronger and sustained action to cut down these chemical flows and prosecute the drug criminals facilitating them,” Trump said, adding that China was also a key supplier of other synthetic narcotics such as nitazenes and methamphetamine.
Crisis at home
The President linked the global narcotics trade directly to America’s domestic crisis. He said transnational organized crime’s trafficking of fentanyl and other synthetic drugs had created a national emergency that is now the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 44.
“More than 40 percent of Americans know someone who has died from an opioid overdose, and in 2024 we averaged over 200 deaths daily due to illicit drugs,” Trump said. “This remains unacceptable, and my Administration is deploying every aspect of American power and unprecedented resources to defeat this threat.”
Also read: US intel report links India to fentanyl trafficking
Trump also credited stepped-up cooperation with Mexico under President Claudia Sheinbaum, noting joint efforts that included the deployment of 10,000 Mexican National Guard troops to the border and the extradition of 29 cartel suspects to the US. However, he urged Mexico to “sustain and institutionalize” the crackdown and pursue cartel leadership more aggressively.
Trump warned that while the US will continue devoting resources to punish cartels and traffickers, countries that fail to take action would face “serious consequences.”
“You are either helping us shut down these supplies or you are enabling them — and America will act accordingly,” he said.
