US President Donald Trump has threatened to end foreign aid to countries who do not prevent illegal drugs from reaching the US.
"I want to stop the aid. If they can't stop drugs from coming in, 'cause they can stop them a lot easier than us," he said on Friday during a visit to the US the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) National Training Center in northern Virginia, Efe news reported.
"They say, 'oh we can't control it.' Oh great, we're supposed to control it," Trump said. "So we give them billions and billions of dollars, and they don't do what they're supposed to be doing, and they know that. But we're going to take a very harsh action."
The President did not mention any countries by name in regard to the drug issue, though he previously pointed to El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico as sources of illegal immigrants.
"These countries are not our friends, you know," he said, though it was not entirely clear which nations he was talking about.
"We think they're our friends, and we send them massive aid, and 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 said.
In a discussion with CBP officials, the president asked about the origin of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines that reach the US and the routes used by traffickers.
More From This Section
--IANS
pgh/