President Donald Trump on Wednesday (September 16, 2026) welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to curb illicit poppy cultivation even as he identified India, China and Pakistan among 23 major drug transit and illicit drug producing countries and urged their respective leaders to address the issue. U.S.
Trump said he had raised the issue directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping and noted that Beijing had introduced licensing requirements last year for companies exporting designated precursor chemicals to North America. In a Presidential Determination to the U.S. Congress, Mr. Mr. Trump also made it clear that appearing on the list of major drug transit and illicit drug producing countries was not necessarily a reflection of the respective government’s current counterdrug efforts, or coordination with the U.S. Mr. He pointed to tighter border security, lower drug seizures and a decline in overdose deaths as evidence of the progress. Mr. Mr.
The Presidential Determination said countries are placed on the list, as required by U.S. law, due to a combination of geographic, commercial, and economic factors that allow drugs or precursor chemicals to transit or be produced, even if a government has engaged in robust and diligent narcotics control and law enforcement measures.
Trump said he looks forward to continued cooperation through the United States-India Drug Policy Framework. “I welcome Prime Minister Modi and the Government of India’s efforts to address illicit opium poppy cultivation and bolster supply chain integrity,” he said in the official directive that was made public on Wednesday (September 16, 2026). Trump also highlighted the “historic progress” made by his administration in tackling drug trafficking and narcoterrorist organisations. Trump claimed drug seizures along the U.S. southern border had dropped by more than half after what he called four years of “open border chaos”. He also said drug overdose deaths had “plunged” and claimed that the administration had saved tens of thousands of American lives.
