Presidential Document2025-18078
Presidential Determination on Major Drug Transit or Major Illicit Drug Producing Countries for Fiscal Year 2026
Primary source
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Published
September 17, 2025
Signed
September 8, 2025
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 178 (Wednesday, September 17, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 178 (Wednesday, September 17, 2025)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 44953-44955]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-18078]
[[Page 44951]]
Vol. 90
Wednesday,
No. 178
September 17, 2025
Part III
The President
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Presidential Determination No. 2025-12 of September 8, 2025--
Presidential Determination on Major Drug Transit or Major Illicit Drug
Producing Countries for Fiscal Year 2026
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 90 , No. 178 / Wednesday, September 17, 2025
/ Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 44953]]
Presidential Determination No. 2025-12 of September 8,
2025
Presidential Determination on Major Drug Transit
or Major Illicit Drug Producing Countries for Fiscal
Year 2026
Memorandum for the Secretary of State
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States,
including section 706(1) of the Foreign Relations
Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 2003 (Public Law 107-
228) (FRAA), I hereby identify the following countries
as major drug transit or major illicit drug producing
countries: Afghanistan, The Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia,
Burma, the People's Republic of China (PRC), Colombia,
Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El
Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica,
Laos, Mexico, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, and
Venezuela.
A country's presence on the foregoing list is not
necessarily a reflection of its government's
counterdrug efforts or level of cooperation with the
United States. Consistent with the statutory definition
of a major drug transit or major illicit drug producing
country set forth in sections 481(e)(2) and 481(e)(5)
of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended
(Public Law 87-195) (FAA), the reason countries are
placed on the list is the combination of geographic,
commercial, and economic factors that allow drugs or
precursor chemicals to be transited or produced, even
if a government has engaged in robust and diligent
narcotics control and law enforcement measures.
Pursuant to section 706(2)(A) of the FRAA, I hereby
designate Afghanistan, Bolivia, Burma, Colombia, and
Venezuela as having failed demonstrably during the
previous 12 months to both adhere to their obligations
under international counternarcotics agreements and to
take the measures required by section 489(a)(1) of the
FAA. Included with this determination are
justifications for the designations of Afghanistan,
Bolivia, Burma, Colombia, and Venezuela, as required by
section 706(2)(B) of the FRAA. I have also determined,
in accordance with the provisions of section 706(3)(A)
of the FRAA, that United States assistance to Bolivia,
Burma, Colombia, and Venezuela is vital to the national
interests of the United States.
Transnational organized crime's trafficking of fentanyl
and other deadly illicit drugs into the United States
has created a national emergency, including a public
health crisis in the United States that remains the
leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 44.
More than 40 percent of Americans know someone who has
died from an opioid overdose, and in 2024 the United
States averaged over 200 deaths daily due to illicit
drugs. This remains unacceptable, and my Administration
is deploying every aspect of American power and
unprecedented resources to defeat this threat to our
Nation.
First, I have secured our borders using the full range
of law enforcement and military resources necessary to
safeguard our Nation's security and sovereignty. For
the first time in 4 years, our border is no longer an
open sieve for drug terrorist cartels, human
traffickers, and all others who would do our country
harm. American lives are being saved, with overdose
deaths finally starting to recede significantly for the
first time in over a decade.
I have also marshalled United States economic strength
to compel greater cooperation from our North American
neighbors to confront the drug threat and do their
part. In Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney responded
by
[[Page 44954]]
appointing a fentanyl czar and proposing legislation to
increase the inspection powers of law enforcement, but
more action is needed to stop fentanyl and other drugs
from crossing our border and to arrest drug criminals
exploiting Canadian territory. In Mexico, President
Claudia Sheinbaum has increased cooperation to confront
the powerful cartels that poison both our countries
with drugs and violence. Mexico has surged 10,000
National Guard troops to our shared border, achieved
major fentanyl and precursor chemical seizures, and
transferred 29 high-value targets--including major
cartel figures--to United States custody to stand trial
for their crimes. My Administration has worked closely
with President Sheinbaum to achieve the most secure
southwest border in history, saving lives and
protecting communities from the scourge of fentanyl.
This surge in Mexico's efforts must be sustained and
institutionalized. Much more remains to be done by
Mexico's government to target cartel leadership, along
with their clandestine drug labs, precursor chemical
supply chains, and illicit finances. Over the next
year, the United States will expect to see additional,
aggressive efforts by Mexico to hold cartel leaders
accountable and disrupt the illicit networks engaged in
drug production and trafficking.
The United States will work with Mexico and other
countries to target these national security threats
cooperatively where we can, and through our own
sovereign authorities where necessary. My decision to
identify Mexico's drug cartels and other transnational
criminal organizations as foreign terrorist
organizations opened new authorities for the United
States to dismantle these groups using sanctions,
expanded prosecution authorities, and other resources.
My Administration has also implemented visa
restrictions against family members and close
associates of drug traffickers to safeguard our
country.
While the United States will devote all necessary
resources to punish criminals enabling the production,
transportation, and smuggling of illicit drugs across
our borders, I will also call on countries where these
drugs originate and transit to fulfill their
obligations and shut off these supplies--or face
serious consequences.
The PRC's role as the world's largest source of
precursor chemicals fueling illicit fentanyl production
has been well documented. For too long, the PRC has
enabled illicit fentanyl production in Mexico and
elsewhere by subsidizing the export of the precursor
chemicals needed to produce these deadly drugs and
failing to prevent Chinese companies from selling these
precursors to known criminal cartels. For this reason,
I took bold action to hold Beijing accountable by
implementing an additional 20 percent tariff on the PRC
for their failure to enact tangible, consequential
reforms to stem the flow of precursor chemicals. I also
signed an Executive Order eliminating the duty-free de
minimis treatment for low-value imports from the PRC,
which Chinese companies had used to hide illicit
substances in the flow of legitimate commerce. The PRC
is also a major supplier fueling global epidemics of
other synthetic narcotics, including nitazenes and
methamphetamine. The PRC's leadership can and must take
stronger and sustained action to cut down these
chemical flows and prosecute the drug criminals
facilitating them.
In Colombia, coca cultivation and cocaine production
have surged to all-time records under President Gustavo
Petro, and his failed attempts to seek accommodations
with narco-terrorist groups only exacerbated the
crisis. Under President Petro's leadership, coca
cultivation and cocaine production have reached record
highs while Colombia's government failed to meet even
its own vastly reduced coca eradication goals,
undermining years of mutually beneficial cooperation
between our two countries against narco-terrorists. For
this reason, I have designated Colombia as having
failed demonstrably to meet its drug control
obligations. Colombia's security institutions and
municipal authorities continue to show skill and
courage in confronting terrorist and criminal groups,
and the United States values the service and sacrifice
of their dedicated public servants across all levels
[[Page 44955]]
of government. The failure of Colombia to meet its drug
control obligations over the past year rests solely
with its political leadership. I will consider changing
this designation if Colombia's government takes more
aggressive action to eradicate coca and reduce cocaine
production and trafficking, as well as hold those
producing, trafficking, and benefiting from the
production of cocaine responsible, including through
improved cooperation with the United States to bring
the leaders of Colombian criminal organizations to
justice.
In Venezuela, the criminal regime of indicted drug
trafficker Nicolas Maduro leads one of the largest
cocaine trafficking networks in the world, and the
United States will continue to seek to bring Maduro and
other members of his complicit regime to justice for
their crimes. We will also target Venezuelan foreign
terrorist organizations such as Tren de Aragua and
purge them from our country.
Bolivia's government has taken some positive steps to
increase cocaine seizures and to work with United
States law enforcement to bring drug criminals to
justice, including Maximiliano Davila, the country's
corrupt former anti-drug chief. However, much work
remains for Bolivia to consistently uphold its
counterdrug commitments and ensure that it is not a
safe haven for narco-trafficking groups to thrive.
In Afghanistan, despite the Taliban's announced ban on
illegal drugs, drug stockpiles and ongoing production--
including expanding production of methamphetamine--have
sustained the flow of drugs to international markets.
Revenue from this drug trade funds transnational
criminal groups and supports international terrorists.
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 given the serious threats to United
States interests and international security.
You are authorized and directed to submit this
determination, with the accompanying memoranda of
justification, under section 706 of the FRAA, to the
Congress, and to publish this determination in the
Federal Register.
<GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
Washington, September 8, 2025
[FR Doc. 2025-18078
Filed 9-16-25; 11:15 am]
Billing code 4710-10-P
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