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President Donald Trump’s long-standing threat to enact 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico didn’t materialize yesterday. Both countries were granted thirty-day reprieves on Monday after they agreed to Trump’s demands to stop the flow of illegal immigration and illicit drugs like fentanyl across the American border. Discussions related to tariffs and trade will be conducted during this time, too.
“I just had a good call with President Trump,” Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau wrote in a post on X. “Canada is implementing our $1.3 billion border plan — reinforcing the border with new choppers, technology and personnel, enhanced coordination with our American partners, and increased resources to stop the flow of fentanyl. Nearly 10,000 frontline personnel are and will be working on protecting the border.”
The PM also mentioned that Canada will “appoint a Fentanyl Czar… list cartels as terrorists, ensure 24/7 eyes on the border, launch a Canada-US Joint Strike Force to combat organized crime, fentanyl and money laundering,” among other things.
Some talking heads in Canada have actually declared this a victory for Trudeau. They argued that Canada’s border plan had already been introduced last December. Many strategies mentioned in Trudeau’s post have been or are about to be implemented. The appointment of a fentanyl czar was a new development, but National Review’s Dominic Pino questioned its validity. “Does anyone seriously believe that Canada appointing a fentanyl czar will make any measurable difference in drug overdose deaths?” he wrote on Monday.
That’s one way to look at it, but it’s not the right way. If the Trudeau Liberals had made these issues a priority years ago, instead of just in the past few days and weeks, the Trump tariff threat wouldn’t have reared its ugly head in the first place.
Trump has made no secret of the fact that he was mightily concerned about illegal migrants and deadly drugs like fentanyl. He was frustrated with these issues (among others) during his first presidential term. He also clearly pointed out these specific problems well before his second presidential inauguration on January 20.
“On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in November, 2024. “This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country. Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem.”
Howard Lutnick, who is Trump’s choice to become the next secretary of commerce, made a similar point last week. “This is a separate tariff to create action from Mexico and action from Canada,” he said during his Senate confirmation hearings. “And as far as I know, they are acting swiftly, and if they execute it, there will be no tariff.” I would part ways with Lutnick here: there was no swift action by the Canadian government. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.
Trudeau has let border safety and security collapse by the wayside since he became prime minister in 2015. Illegal immigration at Canadian border crossings has been a serious concern for years.
Canada’s lax legal immigration system is also problematic: Mount Royal University criminology professor Kelly Sundberg, a former Canada Border Services Agency officer, told CTV News that “we are a weak link and in the United States border security program framework, it’s very easy to come to Canada.” And while the flow of fentanyl from Mexico to America is substantially larger, Canada’s drug decriminalization policies have led to, in Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum’s words, “a very serious problem with fentanyl consumption.”
After Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Canada, Trudeau attempted to launch a tariff-for-tariff retaliation. As if Canada, a middle power, could effectively threaten the massive US economy. Ontario premier Doug Ford directed all Liquor Control Board of Ontario stores to remove American products from their shelves, and promised to rip up the province’s contract with Starlink, an internet service owned by Elon Musk. (Ford walked all of this back on Monday.) Average Canadians even threatened to cancel their Amazon accounts and Netflix subscriptions, and incessantly booed the US national anthem at NHL and NBA games like spoiled brats.
Instead of dealing with these significant border concerns intelligently and working with Trump to resolve them speedily, Canada went into an emotional tizzy. That’s incredibly foolish, and hardly constitutes a victory for Trudeau. If my country wants Trump’s tariffs to disappear permanently, this childish behavior can’t ever be repeated.
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