On September 15, 2026, the White House sent a ‘Presidential Determination’ to the US Congress, identifying the following countries as major drug transit or major illicit drug producing countries: 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.
However, it qualified that, “A country’s presence on the foregoing list is not necessarily a reflection of its government’s current counterdrug efforts, or coordination with the United States.”
He had some words of praise for India.
“I welcome Prime Minister Modi and the Government of India’s efforts to address illicit opium poppy cultivation and bolster supply chain integrity,” he said, adding, “I look forward to continued cooperation through the United States-India Drug Policy Framework.”
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According to the US Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, major drug transit or illicit drug producing countries are placed on the list due to a combination of geographic, commercial, and economic factors that allow drugs or precursor chemicals to transit or be produced, even if a government has engaged in robust and diligent narcotics control and law enforcement measures, the notification says.
The biggest transgressors in the list are Afghanistan, Bolivia, Burma, and Colombia described “as having failed demonstrably during the previous 12 months to make substantial efforts to adhere to their obligations under international counternarcotics agreements and to take the counternarcotics measures required …”
Trump praised his administration’s efforts in drug interdiction, and claimed a number of achievements in reducing the amount of drugs coming into the US, and the narcoterrorists who had been nabbed or killed, or were on trial, including Nicolas Maduro, the former president of Venezuela. He also took a swipe at Canada and Mexico demanding they do more.
China, he said, continues to be the world’s largest producer of many of the precursor chemicals used to illicitly produce fentanyl, methamphetamine, and other deadly synthetic drugs. He wants Beijing to take more aggressive action to reducing the flow of chemical precursors.
Among countries that have taken measures to confront drug trafficking and narcoterrorism, Trump lists Venezuela, Bolivia Colombia, and Peru. “I also applaud three of America’s greatest allies in our hemisphere – Argentina, Ecuador, and El Salvador – for their leadership, resolve, and success in the fight against narcoterrorism.”
In the case of Burma, Trump said, “the military regime has made little discernible effort to crack down on its drug economy, making the country the world’s largest source of opium poppy and one of the largest suppliers of methamphetamine.”
And, “Despite the Taliban’s announced opium poppy ban, Afghanistan continues to supply drug markets across the world, likely funding Islamist terrorism,” he adds.