President announces "America's Counter Cartel Coalition," pledges military campaign against cartels

The president announced the launch of the "America's Counter Cartel Coalition" on a platform of deploying military force to dismantle transnational drug cartels and pledged to lead an allied campaign to "eradicate the criminal cartels plaguing our region." The president said representatives of 17 nations have entered the alliance and described the coalition as committing to "using lethal military force to destroy the sinister cartels and terrorist networks once and for all." The president framed the effort as necessary to protect regional security and U.S. national security.

The president repeatedly attributed recent hard-line measures and military operations to his administration's policies, telling the assembled leaders that "we've knocked out 42 navy ships" and that maritime drug trafficking is "down 96%." He also said the United States had reduced fentanyl flows across the border by "67%." Those specific operational and numeric claims were presented by the president in his remarks and are reported here as assertions he made; they were not substantiated within the text of the remarks themselves.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised the president's attention to the Western Hemisphere and thanked him for making the region a priority. Rubio said the leaders gathered are "friends" and allies willing to cooperate with the United States. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth described the coalition as "an action coalition" with American leadership at the forefront, saying the war department will work with partner nations' assets and intelligence to press offensive operations against cartel infrastructure.

In addition to the coalition announcement, the president said the United States has formally recognized the Venezuelan government and described a "historic gold deal" intended to facilitate sales of Venezuelan gold and minerals with U.S. involvement. He also spoke about negotiations with Cuba and framed the administration's approach as a regional doctrine to block "hostile foreign influence" in the Western Hemisphere.

The president concluded by asking Rubio and Hegseth to offer brief remarks and said he would sign a proclamation formally launching the America's Counter Cartel Coalition following their comments. The speeches closed with no vote or legislative action recorded; the proclamation signing was described as an immediate next step in the remarks.

What was said in the remarks above is attributed to the named speakers. Where the president made factual claims about operational results or casualty and drug-flow numbers, this article identifies those as assertions from his speech and does not corroborate them with independent evidence.