US ambassador backs Close on cocaine at Antwerp port
A tweet by Bill White, pro-Trump US ambassador, endorsing remarks by socialist mayor Philippe Close on drug trafficking in Antwerp, has caused surprise in Belgium.
Bill White, US ambassador, backs Belgian socialist on Antwerp cocaine case
"Philippe is right. More cocaine arrived at Antwerp port in 2023 than in all American ports combined." With this tweet, posted Thursday evening, Bill White, US ambassador to Belgium, took a position in the Belgian political debate over drug trafficking, according to La Libre.
The message was responding to an interview with Philippe Close, PS mayor of Brussels-City, who had stated: "We do not understand why fewer than 5 per cent of containers at Antwerp port are inspected. 60 per cent of the cocaine entering Europe comes from this port, we have a problem."
Unexpected support from a Trump ally
That the ambassador, reputed to be close to Donald Trump and previously laudatory towards the MR and N-VA, would endorse the remarks of a socialist elected official surprised political observers. In the past, Trump had called Brussels a "rat hole". Thomas Dermine, PS mayor of Charleroi, himself retweeted White's message. "This is the first time that Bill White, very conservative and pro-MAGA, is praising a socialist official," he told La Libre.
A political war over drug trafficking
This sequence is part of a broader political conflict. The socialist mayors of the most affected municipalities — Saint-Gilles, Anderlecht, Brussels-City and Charleroi — accuse the federal government of not freeing up sufficient resources and point to Antwerp, a city whose Prime Minister Bart De Wever was mayor for thirteen years.
For Dermine, White's tweet constitutes a message "fairly direct towards Bart De Wever". "Antwerp's failure is also that of Bart De Wever," he adds. "As mayor, he perhaps could not have solved the problem, but now that he is at federal level, he must grasp this national emergency."
Seizure figures give weight to the argument
On the substance, the data generally supports the ambassador's position. In 2023, seizures at Antwerp port reached 116 tonnes, compared with 36.8 tonnes at all American borders. The comparison has its limitations, however: it does not include the 231 tonnes intercepted at sea by US coastguards in 2025, and it is based solely on seizure figures.
"The real problem is the cocaine flows from South America towards Europe," Dermine insists, who considers Antwerp to be "today a weak point on a European scale."
The "Antwerp connection" questioned
The socialist mayor deplores that Antwerp has only ten times fewer port police officers than Rotterdam. This lack of control would result, according to him, from the desire of Antwerp officials not to hinder commercial flows. The customs minister Jan Jambon (N-VA) and the justice minister Annelies Verlinden (CD&V) are both from Antwerp, as is Prime Minister De Wever.
Dermine therefore raises the question: "One can wonder whether there does not exist some form of 'Antwerp connection' that would mean the port's interests have a particularly attentive ear at federal level."
Source: La Libre