Here's why the tariff threat was necessary

NOTE: I published this article in the American Thinker yesterday, just before significant developments were announced. The Mexican President has agreed to station 10,000 troops on the border between Mexico and the USA. As a result, the tariff decision has been postponed for 1 month. Similarly, the tariffs between USA and Canada have been postponed for a month, in light of certain security concessions by Canada.

The leaders of Canada and Mexico are indignant because Trump slammed 25 percent tariffs onto their exports. In this dispute, most of the world will side with Canada and Mexico, and Trump will be viewed as mean, erratic and even racist. It is likely that Democrats will also blast Trump, but that will be a mistake – for Democrats.

For years, the nation has talked about massive numbers of fentanyl deaths, yet there has been little or no relief. Trump is taking the only action that is likely to alleviate the problem in a significant way.

On this issue, the resistance offered by Canada and Mexico has been disgraceful. President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico put the blame entirely on the United States, and promised her own 25 percent retaliatory tariffs.

Sheinbaum arrogantly declared that Americans can solve the fentanyl problem by combating “the sale of narcotics on the streets of their main cities, which they don’t do.” In an ideal world, that might be a solution. However, our “main cities” are run by Democrat mayors and district attorneys, and they don’t care much about crime unless it can be pinned onto someone in MAGA world. To solve the illegal migrant and drug problem, we need more cooperation from Mexico, as Sheinbaum should know.

The response of Canada’s Prime Minister is just as inadequate. Justin Trudeau indicated that Canada will issue its own 25 percent tariffs, targeted towards certain U.S. products. He then tried to sweet-talk Americans by claiming that the border and drug problems are not very significant (“...already safe and secure”), and that Canada has implemented a major plan to remedy the minor problem. Let’s examine Trudeau’s big plan.

Trudeau claimed that Canada has “launched a $1.3 billion border plan that is already showing results....” However, the Trudeau plan should be evaluated in light of these facts:

• $1.3 billion in Canada dollars is only $900 million in U.S. dollars.

• The plan was outlined for the first time just six weeks ago (December 17, 2024), so it is very unlikely that it “is already showing results.”

• The components of the plan are quite vague. There will be $667M for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and $355M of the Canada Border Services Agency. Are those funds for hiring more people — or for giving bigger pensions? And why is $77M allocated to Health Canada?

• The funds are for a period spanning SIX YEARS. On a yearly basis that is very small change.

As noted, Trudeau suggested that the northern border is already safe and secure, but what are the facts?

In an article posted by CBC News on September 12, 2024, there are many quotations from Canadian officials, and they describe a problem that is spiraling out of control. Kelly Sundberg, of Mount Royal University stated:

“I hate to admit it, but I think that Donald Trump is right on this, that there is a need to focus north.”

Sundberg added:

“The Americans are well aware that Canada’s capacity to screen people is really limited, if at all even existent. I mean, we do screen, kind of, but we don’t do a proficient or effective job. The Americans are well aware of this, so they can’t trust our system.”

Despite the weaknesses in their ability to detect illegal crossings, our Canadian neighbors discovered 19,498 migrant crossings to the USA between October 2023 and July 2024 — twice as many as in the previous year. But that is probably the tip of an iceberg.

Having lived in a northern border state, I guarantee you that anyone wanting to cross without detection would have no problem. Indeed, it is often difficult to even know exactly where the border is, since there are endless miles without fencing.

The northern border was described this way in an article in Newsday:

“No fence. No barricade.... The U.S.-Canada border is the longest in the world at 5,525 miles — more than twice as long as the border with Mexico — and it's pretty porous.”

For that reason, the serious criminals —drug runners, cartel operatives, sex traffickers, terrorists — are starting to cross into the USA from the north. Those criminals don’t want to be detected, so they are not in the official statistics.

Sgt. Charles Poirier of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) described the growing problem this way:

“There isn’t a day or night where there isn’t a crossing... For the past few months, what we’re seeing is a lot of people landing at international airports, at either Montreal or Toronto. And then within a few hours of their arrival, we catch them at the border, either attempting to cross or they’ve already successfully crossed.”

In all likelihood, it is far more difficult to detect illegal crossings at the northern border than at the southern border. However, there is an additional problem: Once they catch a migrant crossing into the USA, the Canadians don’t know what to do about it. The problem was outlined by Chief Supt. Mathieu Bertrand, head of Serious and Organized Crime and Border Integrity (RCMP):

“If we intercept individuals prior to them crossing the border, they’re in fact not committing any offence. We have no authority to ask questions or begin an investigation at that time. It’s very hard to identify elements of the offence to charge those individuals and bring them to court.”

All of the problems outlined above explain why President Trump is playing hardball, with justification. Perhaps the price of avocados will increase, and maybe even the price of automobiles. But can’t we put up with those high prices in order to save thousands of young lives?

In any event, it won’t take too long because any pain we feel will be minor compared to that of Canada and, especially, Mexico. Their sales to the USA are vital to their economies. Our sales to them are important to us, but not vital.

TDS still rages among Democrats, so they will probably side with Canada and Mexico. Sooner or later, however, President Trump will win this trade war. When that happens, many fentanyl deaths will be avoided, and Democrats will wish they had supported the President in this vitally important endeavor.