American President Donald Trump has made it clear both in rhetoric and writing that the drug crisis is one of the key reasons why he’s implementing 25 per cent tariffs on all imports from Canada.
We as a nation can’t ignore this aspect of the tariff issue or try to argue our way out of it. We have to address it with eyes open. And now is the time to look more at some of the concerning aspects of drug production in our country that U.S. policymakers seem to want to address more than our own do.
The production and trafficking of fentanyl was the focus of a fact sheet produced by the White House on Saturday, which outlined the rationale and policy objectives behind the tariffs, which also hit Mexican imports at 25 per cent and Chinese ones at 10 per cent.
“The extraordinary threat posed by illegal aliens and drugs, including deadly fentanyl, constitutes a national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act,” reads the first line of the announcement.
The document continues: “President Trump is taking bold action to hold Mexico, Canada, and China accountable to their promises of halting illegal immigration and stopping poisonous fentanyl and other drugs from flowing into our country.”
Tackling the drug crisis has been a consistent concern of Trump’s, beginning with his initial 2016 Presidential campaign. It’s often been discussed within the context of trade, both in terms of opioids coming in from other countries and how the drug crisis has wreaked carnage on families in once-prosperous manufacturing towns that have seen jobs leave due to globalization.
It’s risky for Canadians to dismiss the Trump administration’s genuine concern with the drug issue. Although the inclination to think that way is understandable.
For starters, it’s no secret that Trump wishes to restructure the global financial system to be more in America’s favour, regardless of the drug crisis. An essay by Stephen Miran, a former economic advisor during the previous Trump administration, has become a must-read for those looking to understand the motivation behind these tariffs. “We may be on the cusp of generational change in the international trade and financial systems,” Miran writes. He goes on to detail complex concerns with the post-World War II financial system without at all touching upon the drug crisis. In this respect, fentanyl just seems like a convenient cover story to justify the tariffs.
Then there is the fact that the volume of fentanyl that’s entering the United States from Canada pales in comparison to what makes its way up from Mexico. We’re just way less of a problem, statistically speaking. Then factor in the volume of contraband from the United States that makes its way into Canada and there’s a good argument to be made that it should be us getting upset at them.
But the White House fact sheet points to another important angle that deserves our attention: “There is also a growing presence of Mexican cartels operating fentanyl and nitazene synthesis labs in Canada. A recent study recognized Canada’s heightened domestic production of fentanyl, and its growing footprint within international narcotics distribution.”
While the White House doesn’t provide a source for this study, FINTRAC released a report at the end of January highlighting the increased role that Mexican cartels are playing in the Canadian drug market. The study — which the RCMP and American Homeland Security participated in — suggests that the Canadian drug market is becoming something of an extension of the Mexican cartel system and is now contributing to the international drug market.
The drugs are first making their way into Canada through the United States — via commercial vehicles, according to FINTRAC — so our neighbour should do more to stop it on their side. But once product and production are over here, it’s out of their jurisdictional reach. That’s likely why they’re prodding us to get more in the game.
These concerns were previously highlighted in National Post features by Rahim Mohamed in early December. The articles exposed how Canada was host to fentanyl “super labs” that have been ramping up production. British Columbia was identified as the worst offender in terms of number of labs.
The articles explained how law enforcement had broken up some of them — including one in Niagara Falls, close to the American border, in the summer of 2023 — but that they were lacking sufficient manpower to crack down on all of the ones on their radar.
A Global Affairs Canada report from last year that was discussed in the articles makes it clear our government knows full well what’s going on: “Seizures of Canada-sourced fentanyl in places like the U.S. and Australia suggest that domestic production is likely exceeding domestic demand, and that Canada is now source (and transit) country for fentanyl to some markets.”
In other words, our government knows our fentanyl problem is getting worse, they know our domestic drug market is now working with the cartels and going global and our own law enforcement agencies haven’t been getting the resources they require to tackle the problem. And all of this was out in the open before last year’s presidential elections.
None of this means we should roll over and accept tariffs against Canadian goods as a justified response. But it does mean that we shouldn’t kid ourselves that we don’t have a serious problem that requires urgent attention and that addressing it will undoubtedly help us have a more productive relationship with our number one ally and trading partner.
“Our border needs to be taken back into our control, not to please the president, but to protect our own people,” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said on Sunday. He’s right. It shouldn’t have to take all of this for us to deal with such a problem.
National Post