President Donald Trump displays a document signing an executive order designating fentanyl a "weapon of mass destruction" in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington D.C. on December 15, 2025. [REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein]

President Trump signed an executive order on Monday designating fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction (WMD) during a ceremony at the White House for Mexico border defense medals.

Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration had classified fentanyl smuggled through Venezuelan drug shipments as a "potential chemical weapons threat" in an attempt to justify attacks in the Caribbean and the Western Pacific.

By classifying this deadly poison as a weapon of mass destruction, President Trump is likely to further strengthen the argument that the United States must defend itself against drug cartels.

The executive order states, "The manufacture and distribution of fentanyl, primarily perpetrated by transnational criminal organizations, threatens our national security and fosters lawlessness in our region and on our borders. The production and sale of fentanyl by foreign terrorist organizations and drug cartels fund these groups’ operations, including assassinations, acts of terror, and insurgencies that occur worldwide, and enable activities that harm our domestic security and the well-being of our citizens."

It also states, "Two cartels primarily responsible for the distribution of fentanyl within the United States are engaged in armed conflict to secure territory and protect their business, which, beyond the direct threat of fentanyl itself, results in large-scale violence and loss of life. Furthermore, the potential for organized adversaries to weaponize fentanyl to conduct focused and large-scale terrorist attacks poses a serious threat to the United States."

The executive order directs the Secretary of Defense and the Attorney General to "determine whether the threat posed by illicit fentanyl and its impact on the United States warrants the provision of resources from the Department of Defense to the Department of Justice to assist in the enforcement of title 18 of the United States Code, pursuant to section 282 of title 10 of the United States Code."

Title 10, Section 282, deals with "emergencies involving weapons of mass destruction," and Title 18 of the U.S. Code addresses criminal law and criminal procedure.

President Trump stated, "There is no question that one of the reasons America's enemies are smuggling fentanyl into our country is with the intent to kill Americans. If this is war, it would be one of the worst wars in history."

Trump continued, "I think 200,000 to 300,000 people have been killed by them over the last five or six years. That is why today, I am taking another important step to protect the American people from the threat of deadly fentanyl pouring into our country. With this historic executive order that I am signing today, I am officially classifying fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction. Fentanyl is more powerful than any bomb."

Rep. Sung Ku Hong, U.S. NNP Chief Correspondent / Special Dispatch to this paper NNP info@newsandpost.com