Trump claims 97% drop in sea-based drug trafficking

President Donald Trump said Friday that his administration has nearly eliminated the flow of illegal drugs entering the US through maritime routes, claiming a 97% reduction in narcotics trafficked by sea.

Speaking in the White House Rose Garden, Trump highlighted his administration's anti-drug enforcement efforts while discussing border security and fentanyl trafficking.

"We've also made tremendous strides in stopping the flow of illegal drugs into our country," he said. "The flood of deadly fentanyl across our border is down by 59%, and the drugs coming in by sea are down by 97%, and we're trying to figure out who the 3% are, because they are the bravest people on earth."

Trump said the majority of illegal narcotics entering the US originate in Mexico and accused drug cartels of exercising broad control there.

"They come through Mexico, for the most part," he said. "We have a problem, because the cartels rule Mexico, and nobody else. The cartels — they just rule it."

He also argued that maritime interdiction efforts have been particularly successful. "So we have the sea done, meaning the ocean waterways pretty much done — 97%," Trump said. "And we're going to have the land done very soon."