Close Reading

Isn’t drug coming to Canada from USA & south Amenrican countries??

I'm usually reasonable enough to realize that while I may disagree with many policy decisions, there's usually a relatively coherent line of thought to back said actions up. The problem here is that there’s no clear logic behind using tariffs as a tool to curb fentanyl trafficking or immigration. I'm not going to speak on the issue of immigration at the Canadian border because there simply is none. Yes, there are illegals from Canada, but almost 100% of them are from overstaying visas rather than crossing the border unlawfully. So let's talk about fentanyl. \n\nMost fentanyl in the US originates from China, often in precursor form, and is then processed in Mexico before being smuggled into the states. But it's typically trafficked in small, high potency quantities, often hidden in legitimate shipments or through mail, and only on very rare occasions is it being brought in by individuals crossing the border. It has _never_ been documented to have shipped in as part of large scale commercial imports, so a 25% tariff on legal trade with Canada and Mexico doesn’t directly target the black market supply chain at all.\n\nIf we take Trump’s reasoning at face value, the argument seems to be that he wants to exert economic pressure on Mexico and Canada as a means of having them crack down harder on drug trafficking networks. But the issue is that fentanyl simply isn’t coming in through mass import channels, so all this looks like is a punitive measure without a clear mechanism to actually achieve its stated goal. And the implications? Drastically higher costs for consumers in the US, Canada, and Mexico, with absolutely nothing to show for it.