‘Wait’: Trump Raises Eyebrows With Odd Claim He Wants to Slap Tariffs on Canadian Fentanyl

President Donald Trump caused a great deal of confusion online Wednesday when he appeared to argue he intends to impose tariffs on fentanyl crossing the U.S.-Canada border.

As Trump has continually threatened the country and key U.S. trading partner with heavy tariffs, one of his most frequent criticisms has centered on the smuggling of fentanyl into the country. The president has even demanded that Canada improve its border security to limit the amount of drugs coming into the U.S.

Although Trump has been especially hard on Canada, data suggest that his frustrations may be misguided. According to a Wednesday report from The Globe and Mail, “In fiscal [year] 2024, the data show that 99.87 per cent of the fentanyl they recovered was linked to either Mexico or the United States, or had unknown origins. Fentanyl identified as coming from Canada amounted to 0.74 pounds – or 0.13 per cent.” The Mail data looked at the 34 states that comprise the “northern border region” of the U.S.

In a Truth Social post, Trump floated the possibility of somehow putting a tariff on the drug to reduce the amount that comes over the border.

“Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Rand Paul, also of Kentucky, will hopefully get on the Republican bandwagon, for a change,” Trump said, “and fight the Democrats wild and flagrant push to not penalize Canada for the sale, into our Country, of large amounts of Fentanyl, by Tariffing the value of this horrible and deadly drug in order to make it more costly to distribute and buy. They are playing with the lives of the American people, and right into the hands of the Radical Left Democrats and Drug Cartels.”

Many on social media wondered how Trump could tax the illegal distribution of a drug:

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