Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartels after Caribbean strikes
Declaration provides new justification for recent and future lethal force against suspected drug smugglers
US President Donald Trump has declared drug cartels to be unlawful combatants and says the United States is now in a “non-international armed conflict”, according to a Trump administration memo, following recent US strikes on boats in the Caribbean.
The memo appears to represent an extraordinary assertion of presidential war powers, with Trump effectively declaring that trafficking of drugs into the United States amounts to armed conflict requiring the use of military force - a new rationale for past and future actions.
“The President determined that the United States is in a non-international armed conflict with these designated terrorist organisations,” the memo says. Trump directed the Pentagon to “conduct operations against them pursuant to the law of armed conflict”.
“The United States has now reached a critical point where we must use force in self-defence and defence of others against the ongoing attacks by these designated terrorist organisations,” the memo says.
Besides signalling a potential new moment in Trump’s stated “America First” agenda that favours non-intervention overseas, the declaration raises stark questions about how far the White House intends to use its war powers and if Congress will exert its authority to approve - or ban - such military actions.