On Thursday, President Donald Trump raised his general tariff on Canadian goods from 25 percent to 35 percent. Why? Something something fentanyl something. I will try to unpack that argument, but I warn you: The closer you look at it, the less sense it makes.
A few weeks after he was elected, Trump said he planned to "charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States." He complained that "thousands of people are pouring through Mexico and Canada, bringing Crime and Drugs at levels never seen before." He averred that "both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem" and warned that the 25 percent import tax "will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!"
The implication that Canada was largely responsible for illicit fentanyl trafficking was puzzling. "Canada is not known to be a major source of fentanyl, other synthetic opioids, or precursor chemicals to the United States," a congressionally appointed commission noted in a 2022 report. In FY 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the northern border, compared to about 21,000 pounds at the southern border.
