Tariffs and the US’ fentanyl problem

THE tariffs that US President Donald Trump has threatened to slap on his country’s three largest trading partners have been justified, in part, as measures to counter the flow of the drug fentanyl into the United States. The US government claims that China produces fentanyl and Mexico and Canada allow it to pass through their territory into the US. Mexico and Canada are also alleged to be making inadequate efforts to halt the flows of illegal immigrants into the US. Wielding the trade tariffs is supposedly intended to induce these countries to act decisively to counter the drug and illegal immigration flows.

Even if this explanation for the new measures could be taken at face value, its logic is very questionable, particularly in the matter of combatting the damage caused to US society by fentanyl use. They may well be counterproductive.

Fentanyl is undoubtedly a menace that ruins and destroys lives. It is 50 to 100 times more potent than heroin. Fentanyl overdoses have killed tens of thousands of Americans in recent years (though not tens of millions, as White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt has claimed).