Mexican President Warns U.S. Gunmakers Could Be Deemed Accomplices Of Cartels If Trump Admin Designates Them As Terrorist Groups

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum warned that U.S. gunmakers could face new legal action if the Donald Trump administration moves forward with its intention to label local cartels as terrorist groups.

"If they declare these criminal groups as terrorists, then we'll have to expand our U.S. lawsuit," Sheinbaum said at her daily press conference. She went on to detail that a new charge could deem gunmakers as "complicit" of cartels, as the U.S. Justice Department recognized that almost three quarters of all weapons used by criminal groups in the country come from across the border.

Sheinbaum was likely making reference to a report by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), which revealed the figure in January. The document said most firearms come from Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas. The findings, part of the National Firearms Commerce and Trafficking Assessment (NFCTA), highlight the persistent flow of weapons across the border fueling violence in Mexico.

Northern Mexican states like Sonora, Baja California, Chihuahua, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas are the main destinations for these firearms. Guanajuato, in central Mexico, has also emerged as a hotspot for cartel-related violence, fueled in part by this illegal trade. Among the key trafficking routes, the Arizona-to-Sonora corridor stands out.

More than 80% of firearms recovered in Mexico were found in areas dominated by two powerful cartels: the Sinaloa Cartel (CDS) and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has identified these groups as the most influential criminal organizations in Mexico. Additionally, the ATF report showed that U.S.-sourced firearms have also been trafficked to countries beyond Mexico, including Canada, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Brazil.

Eight criminal groups rooted in Latin America are expected to be designated as foreign terrorist organizations by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, The New York Times reported on Thursday. More concretely, the State Department plans to designate the Colombian-based Clan del Golfo organization as well as five other cartels based in Mexico: the Sinaloa cartel, Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación, Cartel del Noroeste, La Familia Michoacana and the Carteles Unidos.

The designations follow the executive order's steps which also singled out the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and the Salvadorian gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13).

Mexico has filed a $10 billion lawsuit against six gun manufacturers based in the United States, seeking to hold them responsible for deaths from guns trafficked into Mexico. However, a judge dismissed it last August based on a lack of jurisdiction, ruling that the connections of the gun manufacturers to the state of Massachusetts, where the suit was brought, were not substantial.

Sheinbaum has targeted gunmakers in the U.S. when responding to allegations from its northern neighbor about her government having relations with cartels. "If there is such an alliance anywhere, it is in the U.S. gun shops that sell high-powered weapons to these criminal groups," she said earlier this month.