Trump plan 'would provide legal framework' for unilateral attacks in Mexico: expert

Foreign policy experts are warning that President-elect Donald Trump's plan to designate drug cartels as terrorist organizations could give him authorization to launch military strikes inside of Mexico.

Semafor reports that Trump's decision to designate the cartels as terrorists would grant him the same authority to launch military unliteral strikes against them as American presidents have done for years against organizations such as Boko Harum and Islamic State.

Carlos Pérez-Ricart, a professor at Mexico City's Center for Research and Teaching in Economics who has authored a book about the history of the United States' efforts to combat drug trafficking in Mexico, recently told the Spanish newspaper El Pais that such a designation would be enough for Trump to take military action against America's neighbor to the south.

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"The announcement [by the president-elect] is going to legalize these intentions, it will provide the legal framework to endorse a series of security measures in our territory not necessarily agreed upon with Mexico," he said.

Pérez-Ricart added that he believes this tactic will be of dubious effectiveness.

"There is nothing to suggest that a more aggressive, direct, and invasive policy will lead to a decrease in fentanyl trafficking to the United States," he said.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, as Semafor notes, has warned Trump that “Mexico is a free, sovereign, independent country and we do not accept interference" of the kind that Trump has been hinting at with plans to bomb drug cartels.