President Trump on Saturday moved to impose stiff tariffs on Mexico and Canada, both swiftly responding with their own levies, accusing him of starting a trade war that would debilitate all three economies.
President Trump hit Canada and Mexico with tariffs of 25% on all goods, with a partial carve out for Canadian energy and oil exports. He said he was imposing them until the flow of migrants and illegal fentanyl into the United States was alleviated, but his administration did little to explain what further steps were needed to remove the tariffs.
The flow of migrants was already at its lowest point and wouldn’t be an issue had the border bill not been blocked by Trump. Border crossings are currently lower than when Trump left office after his first term.
Fentanyl rarely comes in across the border. American citizens are transporting it into the country by vehicle and through legal ports of entry. The bipartisan border security bill would’ve helped. It included funding needed to install fentanyl detection systems (already purchased but not installed due to lack of funds) sitting in a warehouse along the highway connecting the U.S. and Mexico.
Our politicians have been blaming Mexico and migrants instead of doing something about the actual ways that fentanyl enters the U.S.
It takes about a second of thinking to realize that it’s difficult to carry the drug across the border on foot. Hiding it inside a vehicle or transporting it in via ports of entry make it much easier. Americans are less likely to be stopped and searched. It’s important that we don’t fall prey to a false narrative blaming migrants for something American citizens are doing.
Fentanyl smuggled into U.S. for Americans by Americans
President Trump and others have blamed migrants for the fentanyl crisis, when they aren’t even bringing it into the U.S. Now Trump has punished our allies until they stop the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. There’s just one problem with that ultimatum…
Here are the facts (Cato Institute):
Fentanyl smuggling is ultimately funded by U.S. consumers who pay for illicit opioids: nearly 99% of whom are U.S. citizens.
In 2021, U.S. citizens were 86.3% of convicted fentanyl drug traffickers—ten times greater than convictions of illegal immigrants for the same offense.
Over 90% of fentanyl seizures occur at legal crossing points or interior vehicle checkpoints, not on illegal migration routes, so U.S. citizens (who are subject to less scrutiny) when crossing legally are the best smugglers.
The location of smuggling makes sense because hard drugs at ports of entry are about 97% less likely to be stopped than are people crossing illegally between them.
Just 0.02% of the people arrested by Border Patrol for crossing illegally possessed any fentanyl whatsoever.
The government exacerbated the problem by banning most legal cross border traffic in 2020 and 2021, accelerating a switch to fentanyl (the easiest-to-conceal drug).
During the travel restrictions, fentanyl seizures at ports quadrupled from fiscal year 2019 to 2021. Fentanyl went from a third of combined heroin and fentanyl seizures to over 90 percent.
Annual deaths from fentanyl nearly doubled from 2019 to 2021 after the government banned most travel (and asylum).
Recap of Trump Damage to U.S.
Mass deportation will cause food shortages, high food prices, and when businesses lose a majority of their workforce they may be forced to close causing Americans working there to lose their jobs.
Tariffs on Canada and Mexico will cause inflation and a trade war between our allies and biggest trading partners. By saying he’ll remove the tariffs if they stop the flow of fentanyl into our country makes us look ridiculous, considering we are the ones paying for the fentanyl and we are smuggling it in ourselves.
This won’t be the only (or the last) thing our President does to hurt or embarrass us. This is going to be a long 4 years.
