Mexican authorities confiscated 18,690 kilograms (18.7 tonnes) of illegal drugs — including nearly 56 kg of fentanyl — and arrested more than 1,000 suspected drug traffickers at its shared border with the United States since launching Operación Frontera Norte (Operation Northern Border) on Feb. 5.
Still, this was not enough to prevent U.S. President Donald Trump from enacting 25% tariffs on Mexican goods due to insufficient actions by the Mexican government to stop the flow of fentanyl to the U.S.
The tariffs were originally scheduled to go into effect on Feb. 3, but Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum negotiated a one-month pause during which time Mexico was asked to step up its fight against fentanyl trafficking and stop illegal immigration.
Two days later, on Feb. 5, Sheinbaum and members of her security cabinet quickly launched a new, more aggressive strategy that featured Operación Frontera Norte (Operation Northern Border, in English). The president also took the unusual step of transferring 29 top drug lords to face trial in the U.S.
Mexico also confiscated more than 1,000 illegal weapons and seized 892 vehicles in the first 26 days of the operation.
Despite this, U.S. officials insist more could have been done.
En una operación encabezada por @SEDENAmx junto al Gabinete de Seguridad @SEMAR_mx , @FGRMexico, @GN_MEXICO_ ,@SSPCMexico en Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, detuvieron a Ricardo “N”, líder de un grupo generador de violencia que opera en Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, y Coahuila; se le… pic.twitter.com/RK8qiCJuHd
— Omar H Garcia Harfuch (@OHarfuch) February 3, 2025
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick conceded during an interview on CNBC Tuesday morning that Mexico “has done a nice job on the border, but they haven’t stopped the flow of fentanyl.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data indicates that 449 kg of fentanyl were confiscated at the U.S.-Mexico border in January, eight times the amount confiscated by Operación Frontera Norte in February.
CBP data also shows that a monthly average of 753 kg of illegal opiates have been confiscated at the border since October 2023.
Lutnick tried to spin the U.S. policy as “a drug war, not a trade war.”
Since the U.S. had not seen a “statistically relevant reduction” of deaths related to fentanyl, Lutnick said, the tariffs were applied. He did add that if Mexico can prove to Trump that they can stop the flow of fentanyl, “then of course the president can remove these tariffs.”
Sheinbaum said she expects to talk to Trump about the tariffs on Thursday, and announced that she will provide details of her government’s response to the tariffs on Sunday during a public assembly in Mexico City’s iconic Zócalo.
