In a huge executive order move announced on Saturday, February 1, President Donald Trump announced he would be forcing Canada and Mexico to stop the flow of fentanyl into America by hammering them with 25% tariffs. They responded, in turn, not by vowing to deal with the fentanyl issue but with retaliatory tariffs of their own.
Trump, announcing the tariffs on Canada in the executive order, said, “All articles that are products of Canada as defined by the Federal Register notice described in subsection (e) of this section (Federal Register notice), and except for those products described in subsection (b) of this section, shall be, consistent with law, subject to an additional 25 percent ad valorem rate of duty.” A similar 25% tariff was placed on Mexic
He explained why they are necessary by saying, “I previously declared a national emergency with respect to the grave threat to the United States posed by the influx of illegal aliens and illicit drugs into the United States in Proclamation 10886 of January 20, 2025 (Declaring a National Emergency at the Southern Border). Pursuant to the NEA, I hereby expand the scope of the national emergency declared in that Proclamation to cover the threat to the safety and security of Americans, including the public health crisis of deaths due to the use of fentanyl and other illicit drugs, and the failure of Canada to do more to arrest, seize, detain, or otherwise intercept DTOs, other drug and human traffickers, criminals at large, and drugs. In addition, this failure to act on the part of Canada constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in substantial part outside the United States, to the national security and foreign policy of the United States. I hereby declare and reiterate a national emergency under the NEA and IEEPA to deal with that threat. This national emergency requires decisive and immediate action, and I have decided to impose, consistent with law, ad valorem tariffs on articles that are products of Canada set forth in this order. In doing so, I invoke my authority under section 1702(a)(1)(B) of IEEPA and specifically find that action under other authority to impose tariffs is inadequate to address this unusual and extraordinary threat.”
He also said, “With respect to smuggling of illicit drugs across our northern border, Canada’s Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre recently published a study on the laundering of proceeds of illicit synthetic opioids, which recognized Canada’s heightened domestic production of fentanyl, largely from British Columbia, and its growing footprint within international narcotics distribution. Despite a North American dialogue on the public health impacts of illicit drugs since 2016, Canadian officials have acknowledged that the problem has only grown. And while U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) within the Department of Homeland Security seized, comparatively, much less fentanyl from Canada than from Mexico last year, fentanyl is so potent that even a very small parcel of the drug can cause many deaths and destruction to America families. In fact, the amount of fentanyl that crossed the northern border last year could kill 9.5 million Americans.”
Trump described, in the order, his power to implement the tariffs as being granted “By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) (NEA), section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (19 U.S.C. 2483), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code.”
Complaining about the tariffs, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, “The actions taken today by the White House split us apart instead of bringing us together.” He added, saying Canadians were grieving but notably not saying they were dealing with the fentanyl issue, “We were always there standing with you, grieving with you, the American people.”
He then vowed defiance, saying, “It is going to have real consequences for people, for workers on both sides of our border, We don’t want to be here. We didn’t ask for this, but we will not back down in standing up both for Canadians and for the incredible successful relationship between Canada and the United States.” Watch Trudeau here:
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🚨 #BREAKING: Justin Trudeau has just announced a retaliatory 25% tariff on American goods
America has SEVERAL states with larger economies than the entire country of Canada
You’re about to FAFO, Little Castro. You will not win this. pic.twitter.com/hh5bmgCKoK
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) February 2, 2025
Claudia Sheinbaum, for her part, said, “We categorically reject the White House’s slander against the Mexican government of having alliances with criminal organizations, as well as any intention of intervention in our territory. If such an alliance exists anywhere, it is in the United States armories that sell high-powered weapons to these criminal groups, as demonstrated by the United States Department of Justice itself in January of this year.”
She continued, “In four months, our government has seized more than 40 tons of drugs, including 20 million doses of fentanyl. It has also arrested more than ten thousand people linked to these groups. If the United States government and its agencies wanted to address the serious consumption of fentanyl in their country, they could, for example, combat the sale of narcotics on the streets of their main cities, which they do not do, and the money laundering generated by this illegal activity that has done so much harm to their population.”
She further said, “They could also start a massive campaign to prevent the consumption of these drugs and take care of their young people, as we have done in Mexico. Drug consumption and distribution is in their country and that is a public health problem that they have not addressed. In addition, the synthetic opioid epidemic in the United States has its origin in the indiscriminate prescription of drugs of this type, authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as demonstrated by the lawsuit against a pharmaceutical company. Mexico does not want confrontation. We start from collaboration between neighboring countries. Mexico not only does not want fentanyl to reach the United States, but anywhere. Therefore, if the United States wants to combat criminal groups that traffic drugs and generate violence, we must work together in an integrated manner, but always under the principles of shared responsibility, mutual trust, collaboration and, above all, respect for sovereignty, which is not negotiable. Coordination, yes; subordination, no.”
She concluded by saying, “To this end, I propose to President Trump that we establish a working group with our best public health and security teams. Problems are not resolved by imposing tariffs, but by talking and dialoguing, as we did in recent weeks with your State Department to address the phenomenon of migration; in our case, with respect for human rights. The graph that President Trump has been posting on social media about the decline in migration was created by my team, which has been in constant communication with his. I instruct the Secretary of Economy to implement Plan B that we have been working on, which includes tariff and non-tariff measures in defense of Mexico’s interests. Nothing by force; everything by reason and right.”
Both Trudeau and Sheinbaum said they would implement retaliatory tariffs. Trudeau, for example, said it would place a 25% duty on American goods, namely frequently imported fruits and similar items, to retaliate. Sheinbaum, for her part, said in her above statement that Mexico would respond with tariff and non-tariff measures.