Trump says stopping suspected drug boats doesn’t work. But the US reports record cocaine seizures
November 15, 2025
President Donald Trump has justified American military strikes on boats suspected of smuggling drugs by saying the longtime U.S. strategy of interdicting such vessels has been a major failure. Trump’s comments came around the same time that the U.S. Coast Guard announced a record year for cocaine seizures. That milestone, however, hasn’t stopped the Republican president from upending decades of U.S. counternarcotics policy with a series of military strikes in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Veterans of the drug war say U.S. resources would be better spent doubling down on the traditional approach of interdicting drug boats.
