Trump moves to label fentanyl a “weapon of mass destruction”

Donald Trump says he will sign an executive order formally classifying fentanyl and its core precursor chemicals as a “weapon of mass destruction”, further escalating the militarised language his administration is using to justify its crackdown on drug cartels and smugglers.

The announcement on Monday follows a series of steps by the Trump administration that frame drug trafficking as a national security threat rather than a criminal issue. These include repeatedly referring to smugglers as “narco-terrorists” and designating several Latin American cartels as “foreign terrorist organisations”.

Speaking at a White House event, Trump cast fentanyl trafficking as an act of hostile intent by foreign actors.

“There’s no doubt that America’s adversaries are trafficking fentanyl into the United States, in part because they want to kill Americans,” he said. “That’s why today, I’m taking one more step to protect Americans from the scourge of deadly fentanyl flooding into our country,” Trump added. “With this historic executive order I will sign today, we’re formally classifying fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction.”

What the designation would mean in practice remains unclear. The order itself calls on the heads of executive agencies to take actions to “eliminate the threat of illicit fentanyl and its core precursor chemicals to the United States”, but does not specify new enforcement powers or penalties. It is also not immediately evident how the label would affect fentanyl that is legally produced and used for medical purposes.

Under existing US law, which the president cannot change unilaterally, a weapon of mass destruction is defined as “any weapon that is designed or intended to cause death or serious bodily injury through the release, dissemination, or impact of toxic or poisonous chemicals, or their precursors”.

The legal definition also covers “any weapon involving a biological agent, toxin, or vector”, as well as “any weapon that is designed to release radiation or radioactivity at a level dangerous to human life”.

By invoking the WMD category, the Trump administration is reinforcing its broader argument that international drug smuggling networks are not merely profit-driven criminal groups, but organisations deliberately seeking to destabilise the United States, a framing that could pave the way for more aggressive domestic and international operations against cartels.