BRITAIN has halted intelligence-sharing with the US on drug trafficking in the Caribbean – risking a new diplomatic bust up with Donald Trump.
Ministers are said to have paused briefings because they do not want to be complicit in in Latin America, according to CNN.
Britain halted intelligence sharing with the US over lethal strikes on drug boatsCredit: Alamy
Trump has been ordering airstrikes on drug boats which have killed dozens of suspected criminalsCredit: SecWar / X
The Pentagon has sent USS Gerald R. Ford to the Caribbean as part of President Donald Trump’s effort to ‘dismantle’ criminal organisations
British officials reportedly feared information passed to could be used to identify targets for strikes that may breach international .
It comes after US forces began killing suspected traffickers at sea, with at least 75 people dead so far.
The UK Government is understood to agree with UN commissioner Volker Türk, who said the strikes amount to extrajudicial killing.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump has defended the campaign by claiming the
has now joined the chorus of concern, warning that the US strikes “violate international law.”
French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said was alarmed by the escalation, given its territories and “more than a million compatriots” living there.
Barrot told reporters at the foreign ministers’ summit in Canada: “They could therefore be affected by the instability caused by any escalation, which we obviously want to avoid.”
Canadian officials have also moved to distance their country from the US operation.
Ottawa said its own counter-narcotics work with the US Coast Guard “is separate and distinct” from the American military strikes, which have killed at least 76 people since September.
Legal experts and even senior officials are questioning the campaign’s legitimacy.
CNN reported that Admiral Alvin Holsey, the commander of US Southern Command, offered to resign after raising concerns about whether the airstrikes were lawful.
Lawyers inside the Defense Department’s Office of General Counsel have also expressed doubts, though a Pentagon spokesperson denied any internal dissent.
European diplomats privately admit the rupture could widen if Washington keeps framing the anti-drug mission as an “armed conflict.”
One senior EU official told reporters the shift from policing to warfare “crosses a red line” that allies never agreed to.
Officials in and Paris are said to be coordinating their response behind the scenes, exploring whether to raise the issue at the UN Security Council if US operations expand further.
“There’s a real concern about precedent,” a UK defence source told CNN.
The UK government agrees with the UN that the US strikes amount to extrajudicial killing, with France also expressing worryCredit: Alamy
Tyrant Maduro is meanwhile is preparing for a prolonged resistance, deploying troops and older Russian weaponsCredit: Reuters
“If the US can unilaterally declare war on cartels, what’s to stop others doing the same?”
Inside , the move has triggered rare unease.
Diplomats say the alliance was not consulted before the strikes began, and several members are now questioning how Trump’s “narco-terrorism” doctrine fits within collective defence policy.
At the same time, Washington is showing no signs of slowing down.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has ordered additional assets into the Caribbean, saying they will “degrade and dismantle” criminal groups threatening the homeland.
The buildup now includes , leading a strike group of destroyers, submarines, and F-35 jets.
It marks the biggest US deployment in Latin America since the 1989 invasion of Panama.
And it’s the , who has mobilised troops and militias for what he calls “prolonged resistance.”
