WASHINGTON — President Trump expressed his frustration with Canadian bank policies and mused about Mexican drug busts Tuesday morning — hours after imposing a 25% tariff on the US’s neighbors in protest of fentanyl imports that killed one in every 1,000 Americans over the past five years.
Trump, who also slapped a new 20% tariff on goods from fentanyl lab hub China at midnight, was expected to address the stunning trade sanctions during remarks to a joint session of Congress Tuesday evening.
“Canada doesn’t allow American Banks to do business in Canada, but their banks flood the American Market. Oh, that seems fair to me, doesn’t it?” Trump wrote on Truth Social Tuesday morning.
In another post, the president shared a screenshot of a New York Times article that quoted a Mexican cartel leader who “says he’s trying to figure our how to protect his family in case the American military strikes inside Mexico.”
In a third message, Trump wrote: “IF COMPANIES MOVE TO THE UNITED STATES, THERE ARE NO TARIFFS!!!”
The president matter-of-factly said Monday that the tariffs would proceed after delaying their implementation last month.
The 78-year-old initially threatened the steep levies shortly after re-entering the White House on Jan. 20, saying that both Canada and Mexico had to do more to stop illegal immigration and fentanyl — and that China too must cease its exports of the lethal synthetic opioid that kills in extremely low doses.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum rushed to appease Trump after the initial threat and illegal migrant encounters along the US-Mexico border hit a 25-year low in February.
Although Trump emphasized fentanyl smuggling in moving forward with the tariffs, he’s also broadly described tariffs as a way of boosting the economy by protecting American companies and incentivizing foreign firms to manufacture items in the US.
China, Mexico and Canada are America’s top three sources of imports and collectively send almost half of American imports — and Trump has acknowledged there may be a noticeable impact on consumer costs after inheriting stubbornly elevated inflation from former President Joe Biden.
The imposition of the tariffs has roiled global markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which shed 650 points at closing time Monday, was down another 774 points as of midday Tuesday.
Synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, killed an estimated 334,000 Americans over five years, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data last updated in September.
Ontario premier Doug Ford threatened retaliation after Trump enacted the levies, saying, “If they want to try to annihilate Ontario, I will do everything, including cut off their energy, with a smile on my face.”
Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro justified the new tariffs citing the death toll from fentanyl, which is smuggled across land borders and also through the international mail and shipping systems.
“Let’s say that you’re struggling to buy your prescription drugs. It’s Xanax, it’s Valium, it’s Vicodin, Oxycodone for pain, it’s Ambien to sleep. All of these things now are being laced with fentanyl — about 80 million fake prescription drugs received by the DEA in the latest year available that we have. Six out of 10 fake prescription drugs are laced with lethal doses of fentanyl,” Navarro said on Fox News.
“President Trump has said ‘no mas’ to Mexico, ‘no more’ to China — not going to happen on his watch. And right now, this is simply an action to stop Americans dying, and it just has to stop. Everyone right now in America is a fentanyl victim, because I’m sure you know somebody who’s had a son or daughter die, or know somebody who knows somebody.”
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