President Donald Trump said his new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, which went into effect on Tuesday, were in part a result of inaction over the flow of fentanyl into the United States.
The 25 percent tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada, and a 20 percent hike on Chinese imports, came after a notable decline in overdose deaths from the drug over the past year.
“These tariffs are explicitly linked to fentanyl. We are yet to see whether that linkage is disingenuous or whether it is, in fact, real,” Vanda Felbab-Brown, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told Newsweek on Tuesday.
Why It Matters
The issue of fentanyl and its presence in the U.S. became a core part of the border security debate in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, with Trump’s message that the three key trading partners were not playing their part in cutting off manufacturers and suppliers.
Mamta Popat/Arizona Daily Star via AP, File
What To Know
Many families affected by fentanyl overdose deaths have spoken out in recent years, declaring their anger at leaders in Washington and those in Mexico and China for their perceived lack of action in halting the supply of the drug.
In October, Andrea Thomas, whose daughter, Ashley Romero, died in 2018 from an accidental overdose of the synthetic opioid, told Newsweek that the U.S. was “being overtaken by another country that is [waging] their silent chemical war,” referring to China’s role in manufacturing the drug.
While the Biden administration touted its actions in tackling cartel members and working with China to prosecute companies making the chemicals that go into fentanyl, Trump has said it was not enough.
What Is Fentanyl And Number Of Deaths
More than a half-million Americans have died from opioid overdoses since 2012, the year fentanyl started arriving in the country. In 2023, 69 percent of all overdose deaths were linked to the drug, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Fentanyl has been used as a painkiller and anesthetic since 1959 and is regulated in the U.S. by the DEA.
That has not stopped various fentanyl-related substances from being made illegally outside the country, and the pills often contain lethal doses of the drug. Other illegal drugs have also been found to have been laced with fentanyl, again causing overdose deaths when those taking substances have no idea what is mixed into them.
The DEA said that 2 milligrams of fentanyl can be a lethal dose, depending on a person’s body size and tolerance. Some pills tested by the agency found as much as twice that amount.
Traffickers often move the substance by the kilogram, which can have the potential to kill a half-million people.
Why Were Tariffs Imposed?
“The government of Mexico has afforded safe havens for the cartels to engage in the manufacturing and transportation of dangerous narcotics, which collectively have led to the overdose deaths of hundreds of thousands of American victims,” the White House said in a briefing note on Tuesday. “Canada-based drug trafficking organizations maintain robust ‘super labs,’ mostly in rural and dense areas in western Canada, some of which can produce 44 to 66 pounds of fentanyl weekly.”
The Trump administration has said that both U.S. neighbors have failed to arrest traffickers, seize the drug and cooperate with U.S. agents on the matter. When it comes to China, the White House believes leaders there have not stepped up efforts to curtail the flow of so-called precursor chemicals used by manufacturers in Mexico and elsewhere.
Trump first threatened the move before his inauguration. Mexico responded to the threats and has publicized its actions to tackle drug and arms trafficking at the U.S. border. Canada also ramped up its measures.
Felbab-Brown told Newsweek that neither Canada’s nor Mexico’s efforts to increase enforcement actions around fentanyl were enough to dissuade Trump from imposing tariffs, “even though more fentanyl flows from the United States to Canada,” she said.
GUILLERMO ARIAS/AFP via Getty Images
What Countries Does Fentanyl Come From?
Fentanyl is smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico and Canada. In 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers seized more than 21,000 pounds of illicit fentanyl at the border with Mexico, while just 43 pounds were seized at the norther border with Canada.
A report from the Congressional Research Service in December 2024 said that most illicit fentanyl making its way into the U.S. was being made in Mexico using chemicals from China, which were often shipped legally without controls in place.
The Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels, recently designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) by the Trump administration, are some of the main manufacturers and distributors of the drug.
Fentanyl makes its way into the U.S. in various ways, but mostly through legal ports of entry along the southwest border. A study by the Cato Institute in 2024 found that 80 percent of individuals found with the drug at ports of entry between 2019 and 2024 were American citizens.
“Drug trafficking organizations hire U.S. citizens because they are guaranteed the right of entry into the United States and are subject to less scrutiny at ports than individuals without citizenship,” David Bier, director of immigration studies at Cato, wrote in his analysis.
Felbab-Brown said that one way to help tackle this issue would be for the Mexican government and President Claudia Sheinbaum to allow more U.S. agents into the country to help with enforcement.
“The Sheinbaum administration has not been interested in doing that and has, in fact, been trying to prevent that, but it has not been clear if the Trump administration has been asking for it,” Felbab-Brown said.
The Mexican government has been searching most cars headed for the U.S., she added, but little fentanyl has been discovered.
What People Are Saying
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, on Tuesday: “The White House published an offensive, defamatory and unsubstantiated statement about the Mexican government. We strongly deny and categorically condemn it.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in a statement: “While less than 1 per cent of the fentanyl intercepted at the U.S. border comes from Canada, we have worked relentlessly to address this scourge that affects Canadians and Americans alike. We implemented a $1.3 billion border plan with new choppers, boots on the ground, more co-ordination, and increased resources to stop the flow of fentanyl.
“We appointed a Fentanyl Czar, listed transnational criminal cartels as terrorist organizations, launched the Joint Operational Intelligence Cell, and are establishing a Canada-U.S. Joint Strike Force on organized crime. Because of this work—in partnership with the United States—fentanyl seizures from Canada have dropped 97 per cent between December 2024 and January 2025 to a near-zero low of 0.03 pounds seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.”
Maritza Perez Medina, director of federal affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance, told Newsweek in a statement: “Americans don’t want more chaos and violence. Rather than escalating tensions and endangering relationships with our neighbors, we know that health responses are needed to save lives and the recent reductions in overdose deaths are a testament to that.
“Health and harm reduction tools, like the opioid-reversal drug naloxone and fentanyl test strips, have kept tens of thousands of people alive. And more people are benefitting from policies to expand access to treatments like methadone and buprenorphine which reduce opioid cravings and withdrawal symptoms, while cutting overdose risk in half. To curb overdose deaths, U.S. leaders must increase resources within our own border for these health approaches that are proven to save lives.”
What Happens Next
Mexico, Canada and China have promised retaliatory measures, including imposing their own tariffs.
