I believe the stated purpose of the latest round had to do with fentanyl precursor manufacturing.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/rcmp-border-patrol-canada-u... <- discussion of commitment from Canada
https://financialpost.com/news/trump-says-tariffs-on-canada-... <- as of today (sorry for FT source but this is literally all across google you can just googla USA tarrifs)
0.2% of all US border Fentanyl seizures were on the Canadian border. That's almost literally nothing.
Also it's not only about drugs, but also humans smuggling (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/fentanyl-dr-smuggler-1.737348...), and overall border security.
- According to CIS, the number of Canadian crime groups producing synthetic drugs doubled between 2023 and 2024 - There's a lack of Canadian agents who are tasked at preventing this and current legislations make it very inefficient between federal and provincial law agents - There's an upward trend in Fentanyl seizures in Canada the last 2 years - Fentanyl is now being produced domestically in Canada
All of that is within the control of Canada with better policies.
Last year there were 45 lbs of fentanyl intercepted crossing into the US from Canada. Thats a backpack. There’s 500x as much coming from Mexico.
It’s unrealistic to expect that zero fentanyl will come into the US from Canada, and until that happens we will tariff all trade with them.
Tariffs are just a lever to get things done on the international front.
Canada has been neglecting security for a long time, so it's a wake-up call, and it's not a bad thing to put this out publicly to change things.
CBSA only inspects about 4% (some sources say even 1%) of all containers that ship in Vancouver. Quebec-Vermont* border control has been a joke for years.
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug6Ryxza0tE * https://www.montrealgazette.com/news/provincial-news/article...
I mentioned in the previous post that Canada is willing to spend extra resources to avoid a trade war.
That means nothing to trump and this administration, you are trying to use logic to justify decisions made out of personal ego.
Edit: also wanted to add that more guns, drugs and people illegal flow into Canada from the US than visa versa.
Maybe the US should consider securing their own borders
Yes, and no.
Sure, Trump is using all kind of tricks to put pressure against his trade partners to secure some wins that will solidify him as a change agent to boost America, which will appeal to his electoral base. At the same time, it may actually bring good results to the US economy, bringing major investments in the country and negotiating better trade deals.
You may not agree with the means to get there, but you can't deny there's an argument to be made about his "America first" policies and why it could benefit the average people in the long run.