But the administration of President Donald Trump said earlier this week that the United States remains concerned about Mexican cartels' drug production and trafficking capacity, and that Mexico must do more.
“Moreover, Mexican cartels take advantage of uneven precursor chemical controls in Mexico to manufacture deadly drugs, such as fentanyl, inside Mexico and smuggle them into the United States.
“The Mexican government should acknowledge the alarming trend of fentanyl production inside its territory,” according to the U.S. Presidential Determination on Major Drug Transit or Major Illicit Drug Producing Countries.
Cocaine seizures in Mexico rose by around the same amount, hitting 44,000 pounds (20,069 kilograms) so far this year, as compared to 30,000 pounds (13,766 kilograms) in the same period last year.
Increasingly, Mexico has discovered that traffickers are using multi-drug shipments, with many loads now including cocaine, meth, fetanyl pills and marijuana.