By Kit Maher

(CNN) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday classifying “illicit fentanyl and its core precursor chemicals” as weapons of mass destruction.

“Today I’m taking one more step to protect Americans from the scourge of deadly fentanyl flooding into our country with this historic executive order,” he said in the Oval Office, adding, “No bomb does what this is doing.”

His announcement came as he was honoring US service members with medals “for their central role in the protection of our border.”

The order directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to “immediately pursue investigations and prosecutions into fentanyl trafficking” and directs Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to “pursue appropriate actions against relevant assets and financial institutions in accordance with applicable law for those involved in or supporting the manufacture, distribution, and sale of illicit fentanyl and its core precursor chemicals.”

Weapons of mass destruction include weaponry with the potential to “cause death or serious injury of people through toxic or poisonous chemicals,” according to the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, as well as to “produce in a single moment an enormous destructive effect capable to kill millions of civilians, jeopardize the natural environment, and fundamentally alter the lives of future generations through their catastrophic effects.”

Drug overdose deaths in the United States last year made an unprecedented drop to the lowest in five years, according to a federal government estimate released in May. Synthetic opioids – primarily fentanyl – continued to be involved in most overdose deaths, the data showed.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that Monday’s White House event also revived the “Mexican Border Service” medals, which the administration learned were first established by Congress in 1918.

“Our men and women will be wearing that very same medal as Americans 100 years before who were asked to defend the sovereignty of our country,” Hegseth said.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.