Canada on Thursday labelled seven drug cartels as “terrorist entities,” calling them key players in trafficking fentanyl, a drug that has become a priority issue for US President Donald Trump.
Ottawa’s move follows an executive order Trump signed hours after he took office on January 20, which designated several cartels as “foreign terrorist organizations.”
Canada’s Public Safety Minister David McGuinty said the targeted groups “play a leading role in the production and distribution of fentanyl throughout Canada.”
They include the Gulf Cartel, the Sinaloa Cartel, the Michoacan Family, the United Cartels, MS-13, TdA and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
“We’re going after the money,” McGuinty told reporters, in reference to alleged money laundering by foreign cartels in the country.
“We are moving aggressively, using every tool in our toolbox, to take the profit out of drug trafficking.”
Trump has threatened a 25-percent tariff on all Canadian imports, saying it was partly intended to force action on the cross-border flow of fentanyl.
Canada has pledged to boost efforts against the drug, while asserting that less than one percent of fentanyl entering the United States comes through its border.
The head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Mike Duheme, said Thursday that the federal force has intelligence indicating foreign cartels are operating in Canada.
He said Canadians in Mexico and South America are also facilitating the movement of fentanyl or its precursors across the continent.
Any person or group that supports the listed terrorist groups may also face criminal charges, he noted.
Trump’s tariffs, which he has also linked to migrant crossings, had been set to come into force on February 4.
But he granted a 30-day reprieve after last-minute talks with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who last week appointed a fentanyl czar to accelerate and coordinate efforts to detect, disrupt and dismantle fentanyl trade.
US Customs and Border protection says it seized nearly 22,000 pounds of fentanyl in the 2024 fiscal year. Of that amount, 43 pounds were seized at the Canadian border.
Ottawa has stressed that, beyond Trump’s concerns, it is motivated to tackle the fentanyl crisis as the drug kills more people per capita in Canada than in the United States.