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Comment by alexandre_m | Hacker News Reader

The Fentanyl numbers are nothing in comparison to Mexico, but that doesn't mean it's not a problem.

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.

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Let’s put it into perspective, because those numbers don’t give a baseline for what the problem is. Also they don’t necessarily have anything to do with trafficking.

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.

Zero fentanyl is a fantasy and will never be achieved. That thing is way too small and can be carried around too easily*

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 think you may have fallen into the trap thinkint that this is a rational action with a clear goal.

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

> to justify decisions made out of personal ego

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.

So therefore that allows the President to go back on a trade agreement he personally signed in his last term? I'm not going to disagree Canada should do more about reducing Fentanyl, nor that Canada can't control it with better policies. I am not clear on why this allows the United States to go back on agreements and allows the President to threaten with tariffs that seem to change weekly.

there will always be supply if there is demand. we need to fix our own shit, not blame canada or mexico for our own problems

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