US forces have killed 14 people in strikes on four alleged drug boats in the Pacific, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said.

Mexico’s navy says it is still searching for a lone survivor approximately 400 miles (643km) from the Pacific coastal city of Acapulco.

It is the latest in a series of attacks on boats the US says have been carrying drugs in both the Pacific and Caribbean.

The latest strikes in the eastern Pacific, which Hegseth said happened on Monday at the direction of President Donald Trump, mark an escalation in what it has cast as a campaign to stop narcotics from entering the US.

The strikes have drawn condemnation in the region and experts have questioned their legality. Members of the US Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, have also raised concerns and questioned the president’s authority to order them.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum told her morning press conference “we do not agree with these attacks”. She said she had asked the country’s foreign minister, as well as representatives of the navy, to meet the US ambassador.

“We want all international treaties to be respected,” she added.

At least 57 people have now been killed in the strikes, which has led to increasing tensions between the US and the governments of both Colombia and Venezuela.

Most strikes have taken place off the coast of South America, in the Caribbean, but recently the US has turned its attention to the Pacific Ocean as well.

In a statement on X, Hegseth said the four vessels that were hit on Monday “were known by our intelligence apparatus, transitioning along known narco-trafficking routes and carrying narcotics”.

He added that eight “narco-terrorists” were killed in the first strike. Four and three were killed in the following two strikes.

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One person survived the strikes. According to Hegseth, Mexican search-and-rescue authorities “accepted the case and assumed responsibility for coordinating the rescue.”

The condition of the survivor or his current whereabouts are unclear. Mexico’s navy said in a statement that it had dispatched a patrol boat and an aircraft to conduct search operations to “safeguard human life at sea”.

Hegseth’s post included videos that show several vessels catching fire after being struck by US munitions.

“The department has spent over two decades defending other homelands,” he wrote. “Now, we’re defending our own.”

At least four of the strikes have so far taken place in the Pacific, which is a far more significant drug-trafficking corridor, with the rest taking place in the Caribbean.

President Trump has said he has the legal authority to continue bombing boats in international waters, but suggested last week that he may seek approval from Congress if the campaign is expanded to include targets on land.

Trump has said he is “totally prepared” to strike land-based targets, which would mark a significant escalation in the campaign.

The strikes, however, have drawn criticism from international law experts and both the Venezuelan and Colombian governments.

In an interview with the BBC’s Newsday programme last week, Colombian Deputy Foreign Minister Mauricio Jaramillo said the strikes were “disproportionate and outside international law”.

Jaramillo said those on the vessels had “no possibility to defend themselves” and were struck with “no process” and “no judicial order”.

The strikes also come as tensions ratchet up with both governments. The US has placed sanctions on Colombian president Gustavo Petro, accusing him of failing to curb drug trafficking and allowing cartels to “flourish”.

In the Caribbean, the US has deployed troops, aircraft and naval vessels and last week ordered the world’s largest warship – the USS Gerald R Ford – to the area.

Trump has accused Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of being the leader of a drug-trafficking organisation, which he denies, and there are fears in Venezuela that the US military build-up is aimed at removing the long-time opponent of Trump from power.

The country’s attorney general told the BBC there is “no doubt” that Trump is trying to overthrow the Venezuelan government. He accused the US of hoping to seize the country’s natural resources, including reserves of gold, oil and copper.

The US is among many nations that do not recognise Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate leader, after the last election in 2024 was widely dismissed as neither free nor fair. Opposition tallies from polling stations showed its candidate had won by a landslide.

Praise, Nobel nominations and promises of foreign investment in the US – Japan’s newly-elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi rolled out the red carpet for Donald Trump on Tuesday.

Trump in turn had warm praise for Takaichi, telling her that the US would be there for “anything you want, any favours you need, anything… to help Japan”.

The two leaders signed a deal on rare earth minerals, as well as a document heralding a new “golden age” of US-Japan relations which reiterated the commitment of the two countries to implement deals struck earlier, including the 15% tariff deal negotiated earlier this year.

The pageantry and the venue also seemed tailor-made for the US president.

A full military guard of honour and band welcomed Trump to the ornate Akasaka Palace, with its vaulted ceilings and gold-encrusted walls not unlike what the president wants in his planned White House ballroom.

Over lunch, Trump congratulated Takaichi for becoming Japan’s first female prime minister.

Notably, according to a White House readout, that lunch was “American rice and American beef, deliciously made with Japanese ingredients” – a move that will no doubt have delighted Trump, who has long demanded that Japan buy rice from the US.

Takaichi also accompanied Trump aboard a US aircraft carrier, the USS George Washington, where they were greeted by thousands of cheering American troops. Takaichi took the stage and praised what she called the “greatest alliance in the world” and pledged to increase defence spending.

Trump has in the past criticised Japan’s lack of defence spending. In April this year, he lambasted a security treaty with Japan as being “one-sided”, saying: “We pay billions of dollars to defend them, but they don’t pay anything.”

Ahead of their meeting on Wednesday, Trump said he was sure that he would have a “fantastic relationship” with Takaichi, who had a strong connection with former PM Shinzo Abe, a Trump favourite who was shot dead in 2022.

“She was a great ally and friend of Abe, who was my friend… He was one of the best… I know they were very close, and I think philosophically they were close, which is very good,” he told reporters while flying over to Japan from Malaysia on Tuesday.

Trump is spending a week in Asia. He will leave Japan for South Korea on Wednesday, and is expected to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping there on Thursday.

The meeting with Trump was seen as a critical early test for Takaichi, who was elected as prime minister by Japanese lawmakers earlier this month.

Both countries have long been allies, but navigating a relationship with a fickle Trump, who has in the past appeared to waver in his commitment to Japan, lies at the core of the country’s foreign policy.

On Wednesday, Takaichi described Trump as a “partner in a new golden era”, and praised his role in bringing peace to the Middle East. She announced that Japan would be nominating him for the Nobel peace prize.

She also presented Trump with a collection of golf-related gifts, according to Trump’s assistant Margo Martin.

These included a golf bag signed by Hideki Matsuyama, the first male Japanese golfer to win a major golf championship, as well as a putter used by Abe. They also signed two caps printed with the words: Japan is back.

In turn, Trump described her as a “close friend” and described the US alliance with Japan as a “beautiful friendship” that was “born out of the ashes of a terrible war”. He also announced he had approved the first delivery of long-awaited US missiles for F-35 fighter jets to Japan, which would take place this week.

Pleasantries have set a positive tone to the meetings so far, but behind the smiles and the pagentary, there is real pressure on Japan.

During the working lunch, Takaichi presented Trump with a map showing the investments that Japanese companies have made in the US. And during his speech on the USS George Washington, Trump said Takaichi had told him earlier about plans for Toyota to put $10bn (£7.5bn) into building plants “all over” the US.

But Trump also wants more access to Japan’s markets – not just getting them to buy more rice, but also soybeans, and to open its market to US vehicles.

But Takaichi also needs to protect domestic industries and doesn’t want to anger crucial interest groups at home, like the powerful farming lobby.

Tokyo is heavily reliant on exports, and cannot afford a tariff fight especially when it comes to its auto industry. Automakers – the country’s largest exporters to the US – faced 24% tariffs and tens of billions of dollars in losses.

Tariffs have now been lowered to 15%, in step with rivals in the region such as South Korea.

Tomohiko Taniguchi – former special adviser to Abe – said there were things that Takaichi could draw on from Trump’s relationship with her late mentor. He said it was important for Takaichi to be “straightforward and say bluntly what Japan’s national interests are, and to see where those two nations national interests overlap, and always mindful that Japan’s safety must be in hands of the Japanese”.

But Takaichi won’t just have to balance Japan’s interests and its alliance with the US – she’ll also have to do that while maintaining the country’s crucial trade partnership with China.

Rintaro Nishimura senior associate at the Asia Group said: “Takaichi will have to walk a very fine line, maybe tone down some of her more hawkish tendencies on China… but also assure Trump that the US-Japan relationship is the most important.”

US President Donald Trump has signed a flurry of deals on his Asia visit to secure the supply of rare earths, a critical sector that China has long dominated.

The deals with Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia differ in size and substance and it’s too early to assess their tangible impact. But they all include efforts to diversify access to the minerals that have become essential for advanced manufacturing, from electric vehicles to smartphones.

The agreements, which aim to lock partners into trading with the US, are a clear bid to reduce dependence on China, ahead of a key meeting with its leader Xi Jinping.

They could eventually challenge Beijing’s stranglehold over rare earths, but experts say it will be a costly process that will take years.

“Building new mines, refining facilities, and processing plants in regions such as Australia, the United States, and Europe comes with much higher capital costs, stricter environmental regulations, and more expensive labour and energy inputs [compared to China],” Patrick Schroder, senior research fellow at the Environment and Society Centre at Chatham House wrote in an editorial this week.

It’s not clear yet if the $550bn US investment Japan had previously agreed to will be part of the rare earths deal. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is expected to flesh out those details with Japanese companies during his upcoming visit.

But it’s a turning point step in the US-China rivalry.