By Tom Howell Jr. The Washington Times Updated: 12:31 p.m. on Thursday, February 27, 2025
President Trump says planned tariffs on Canada and Mexico will go into effect on Tuesday because too much fentanyl is pouring across U.S. borders.
Mr. Trump announced the plan on Thursday, ending days of confusion about whether the 25% levies would happen or be delayed a second time.
“More than 100,000 people died last year due to the distribution of these dangerous and highly addictive POISONS,” Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social. “We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the USA, and therefore, until it stops, or is seriously limited, the proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled.”
Canada and Mexico staved off the tariffs in early February after pledging to crack down on illegal migration and drug trafficking. While Mr. Trump is pleased with progress on migration enforcement, the White House believes the fentanyl picture remains dire.
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol seized 991 pounds of fentanyl at the southwest border in January 2025, a decrease of 50.5% from January 2024 but still enough to kill 225 million Americans.
The president said that a new 10% tariff on China will be implemented Tuesday on top of a previously announced 10% tariff, totaling 20% on Chinese goods since the start of his term. Reciprocal tariffs on a range of nations are on track to go into effect on April 2.
Wall Street reacted negatively to the news before recovering, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average trading in positive territory by the afternoon.
Tariffs are a tax or duty paid by importers on the goods they bring in from foreign markets.
Mr. Trump says tariffs are a great way to force companies to return to America or keep their operations in the U.S., employ American workers and create revenue to fund domestic programs.
Presidents can impose tariffs without Congress in certain situations, such as to protect national security or address international emergencies.
The U.S. relied on tariffs as a primary source of government revenue until the federal income tax was imposed in the early 20th century.
But tariffs can also result in higher prices for consumers.
Foreign countries don’t pay the tariffs directly to the U.S. Treasury. In many cases, U.S. companies will pay the levies, and they might pass on at least some of the cost to consumers through higher prices.
Business lobbies have objected to the tariffs, citing increased costs along the supply chain.
The automobile industry says the tariffs will be a destabilizing force, given the interconnected nature of the sector among Mexico, U.S. and Canada.
Tariffs could also impact the price of avocados, tomatoes, berries and other produce from south of the border.
Democrats say Mr. Trump’s tariffs amount to a tax on everyday consumers and flies in the face of Mr. Trump’s campaign pledge to rein in costs.
“Trump is driving the U.S. economy straight into a wall and expecting American families to serve as human crash test dummies,” said Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee. “Slapping tariffs on everything Americans buy from Canada, Mexico and China will mean higher prices on groceries, gas and cars, with fewer jobs and lower pay when our closest trading partners respond to Trump’s trade war by buying fewer American products.”
Democrats also say there are better ways to deal with fentanyl — such as treatment and screening at ports — than imposing tariffs on friendly neighbors.
Chinese manufacturers make precursor chemicals for fentanyl that reach Mexico, where cartels finish the drug product and send it to U.S. communities.
A small percentage of seizures occur at the Canadian border, but the White House stressed that domestic production is increasing in Canada and even small amounts can kill in large numbers.
Forty-three pounds of fentanyl were seized at the northern border last fiscal year, enough to kill 9.8 million Americans, the administration said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports provisional data on overdose deaths each month, though the figures lag by nearly half a year.
The rate of U.S. overdose deaths steadily climbed during the COVID-19 pandemic that spanned the last year of the Trump administration and the first years of former President Joseph R. Biden’s term — often topping 100,000 on an annual basis — before turning sharply downward in 2024.
More than 84,000 people died from U.S. overdoses during the 12 months that ended in September, the most recent yearlong stretch available.
