WASHINGTON – President Trump said Thursday he wants tougher penalties for drug dealers and praised countries that punish pushers with the “ultimate” death penalty.

“Some countries have a very, very tough penalty, the ultimate penalty – and by the way they have much less of a drug problem than we do,” Trump said at an opioid summit at the White House.

Trump expressed frustration that drug dealers aren’t treated like murderers in the US justice system.

“If you shoot one person, they give you life (in prison). They give you the death penalty,” Trump said. “These people can kill 2,000, 3,000 people and nothing happens to ‘em.”

Trump said his administration will be rolling out a new policy in coming weeks and said he’s talked to Attorney General Jeff Sessions about joining states in their lawsuits against drug companies that make prescription painkillers — often the gateway to addiction.

“We need strength with respect to the pushers and the drug dealers. If you don’t do that you are never going to solve the problem,” Trump said. “If you want to be weak and you want to talk about blue ribbon committees. That’s not the answer. The answer is you have to have strength and you have to have toughness.”

Trump has privately expressed praise for other countries that kill drug dealers, including Singapore, which has a death penalty for drug trafficking offenses, according to Axios. He also likes crackdowns in China and the Philippines.

“He often jokes about killing drug dealers. He’ll say, ‘You know the Chinese and Filipinos don’t have a drug problem. They just kill them,’” a senior administration official told Axios.