Trump threatens aid to countries that don’t stop drugs at the border

President Trump said Friday that he is considering ending foreign aid to countries that fail to stop illegal drugs from pouring across the border.

In remarks at a Customs and Border Protection roundtable on Friday, the president said that he wanted to see other countries doing more to fight the tide of deadly drugs.

“These countries are not our friends,” Trump told the room of gathered officials. “You know, we think they’re our friends and we send them massive aid.”

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“I won’t mention names right now, but I look at these countries, I look at the numbers we send them — we send them massive aid and they’re pouring drugs into our country and they’re laughing at us,” Trump continued. “So I’m not a believer in that. I want to stop the aid.”

The president went on to argue that Mexico and Central American countries such as Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador would have a much easier time than the U.S. fighting drug smugglers and manufacturers.

“They’re coming in — they’re pouring in from other — El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, all over. They’re just pouring into our country. And we’ve stopped it, but the laws make it very tough,” the president said.

“I want to stop the aid. If they can’t stop drugs from coming in — because they could stop them a lot easier than us. They say, ‘Oh, we can’t control it.’ Oh great, we’re supposed to control it,” Trump added.

The remarks come just days after the president called on the nation’s law enforcement to become “much tougher on drug dealers and pushers” in his annual State of the Union address this week.

“My administration is committed to fighting the drug epidemic and helping get treatment for those in need, for those who have been so terribly hurt,” Trump said.