Former President Trump said strikes against Mexican drug cartels are "absolutely" still on the table as fentanyl and overdose deaths continue to plague the United States.
Trump and his 2024 running mate JD Vance sat down with Fox News host Jesse Watters on "Jesse Watters Primetime" to discuss how their administration would deal with the influx of drugs from the southern border and the drug cartels mass-producing them.
"Mexico — are strikes against the cartel still on the table?" Watters asked.
"Absolutely," Trump responded. "Mexico's gonna have to straighten it out really fast, or the answer is absolutely. They're killing 300,000 people a year with fentanyl coming in."
Trump said he had a deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping to give the death penalty to "anybody sending fentanyl our way."
"You know, China has the death penalty for drug dealers, etc., and I said, they're drug dealers. They agreed with me. He agreed with me: death penalty for drug dealers, death penalty for people that send fentanyl into our country," the 2024 GOP nominee told Watters. "And that would have made a big — that would have made a big difference."
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto on "Your World" in June that fentanyl and other synthetic opioids have killed more than 1 million people since 2000.
She said fentanyl and overdose deaths are a "human tragedy" and it's a "top priority" for the Biden administration and other government agencies to address the crisis.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that, on average, 115 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose.
BIDEN HITS CHINA, MEXICO WITH SANCTIONS FOR COUNTERFEIT, FENTANYL-LACED PILL PRODUCTION
Trump said Mexico would be given a short period of time to "police their border."
"I'm sure they're gonna do not well, and then you're gonna see the action start. And you know what's gonna happen? We're gonna have a lot of people living — they're killing 300,000–350,000 — not 100,000 or 90,000 — I'd like to say 100,000. That's a lot of people. That's two Yankee stadiums, OK? They're killing 300,000 people, maybe more than that, and destroying families," he continued.
"Even if there's no death, they're destroying families. The families are decimated, and they're destroyed."
Vance said he doesn’t believe his mother, Beverly, who struggled with drug addiction, would have survived if fentanyl had been coming across the border 20 years ago.
"I don't think that my mom would be here," he told Watters. "And she's a great grandma to her three grandkids, and it's so, just, good to see her happy and healthy… but a lot of families don't get that chance at a second chance because of that poison that Biden's letting into the country right now."
Vance argued the Mexican government wants Trump to do something about the drug cartels because it’s destabilizing their country and contributing to billion-dollar profits.
"They're not gonna be a real country anymore," Vance said. "They're gonna become a narco-state unless we get some control over this."
