President Trump told Bill O'Reilly in an interview broadcast Tuesday that he plans to designate Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations after they killed Americans in Mexico.
Why it matters: Trump's remarks to O'Reilly that he would act because "we are losing 100,000 people a year to what is happening and what is coming through on Mexico" mark a shift in U.S. policy that's sent Mexican officials scrambling.
- Mexico's Foreign Ministry said in a statement later Tuesday that the country’s foreign minister would contact Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "to discuss this very important issue for the bilateral agenda," per Reuters.
- The killing of six children and three mothers in a Mormon community in northern Mexico shone a spotlight on the issue of warring cartels in the country.
Go deeper: Gruesome attacks challenge López Obrador's softer approach to Mexico's cartels
