US President Donald Trump dramatically escalated a US military build-up in the Caribbean on Friday by deploying the Gerald Ford aircraft carrier group to Latin America, a show of force that far exceeds any past counter-narcotics need and represents Washington’s most muscular move yet in the region.

The deployment is part of Trump’s military build-up in the Caribbean, which includes eight additional warships, a nuclear submarine and F-35 aircraft. It is likely to raise concern in the region about the Trump administration’s intent.

The deployment marks a significant escalation amid heightened tensions with Venezuela, whose government Washington has long accused of harbouring drug traffickers and undermining democratic institutions.

“The enhanced US force presence in the USSOUTHCOM AOR will bolster US capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell posted on social media.

He did not specify when the carrier would be moving to the region, but as of a few days ago, the carrier was travelling via the Strait of Gibraltar and in Europe.

The Ford, which was commissioned in 2017, is the United States’ newest aircraft carrier and the world’s largest, with more than 5,000 sailors aboard.