"I'm gonna create borders," Donald Trump promised during his 2016 campaign. "No drugs are coming in. We're gonna build a wall. You know what I'm talking about. You have confidence in me. Believe me, I will solve the problem."
Trump did not, in fact, solve the problem: The annual number of drug-related deaths in the United States rose by 44 percent between 2016 and the last year of his first term. Now Trump blames foreign officials for his failure, which is why he decided to impose punitive tariffs on China, Mexico, and Canada until they take "adequate steps" to stop "dangerous narcotics" from entering our country.
That benchmark, which is now the focus of negotiations aimed at avoiding a potentially disastrous trade war, is deliberately vague, with good reason. The huge profits generated by drug prohibition give criminal organizations a powerful incentive to find ways around government-erected obstacles, which explains why politicians have never managed to "stop the flow" of illegal intoxicants.
