President Trump recently announced additional tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China — three of America’s largest trading partners: 25 percent on goods from Canada (10 percent on energy resources) and Mexico and 10 percent on goods from China.
I say “trading partners” because international trade is always a “win-win” proposition that benefits both parties because it encourages efficiency in production and the utilization of resources, gives consumers a wider variety of choices, keeps prices in check, leads to innovation, and fosters peace and goodwill. Trade does not result in some countries benefiting (winners) at the expense of others (losers). As such, trade is not a zero-sum game in which one country gains at the expense of another. In every exchange, both parties give up something they value less for something they value more. Each party to a transaction anticipates a gain from the exchange or it wouldn’t engage in commerce with the other party in the first place.
Although higher tariffs ultimately result in higher prices for Americans, Trump claimed that the “pain” of tariffs will be “worth the price.”
That Trump has the authority to impose these tariffs by decree is not because of anything in Article II of the Constitution on the powers of the presidency but because Congress has delegated to him such authority, as I have explained here.
According to a White House “Fact Sheet,” America is facing a “national emergency” and a “public health crisis” because of “contraband drugs like fentanyl” that kill “tens of thousands of Americans each year.” The tariffs are necessary because of the “extraordinary threat posed by illegal aliens and drugs, including deadly fentanyl.” Trump is seeking to “hold Mexico, Canada, and China accountable to their promises of halting illegal immigration and stopping poisonous fentanyl and other drugs from flowing into our country.” Although fentanyl comes across the border from Canada and Mexico, “Chinese officials have failed to take the actions necessary to stem the flow of precursor chemicals to known criminal cartels and shut down money laundering by transnational criminal organizations.”
But soon after Trump imposed these tariffs, he reached an agreement with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to delay the implementation of the tariffs for 30 days.
“Canada has agreed to ensure we have a secure Northern Border, and to finally end the deadly scourge of drugs like Fentanyl that have been pouring into our Country, killing hundreds of thousands of Americans, while destroying their families and communities all across our Country,” said Trump.
Sheinbaum announced that “Mexico will immediately send 10,000 members of its National Guard to the U.S.–Mexico border targeting the trafficking of illicit fentanyl.”
Are the tariffs just a threat by Trump? Perhaps. But Trump loves tariffs, and thinks that they will help make America great again. When he was president the first time, Trump raised tariffs on steel, aluminum, washing machines, and solar panels, among other things, but not because of fentanyl or any other drug.
It would be wrong to think that the “deadly scourge of drugs” is just an excuse for Trump to raise tariffs. Trump is a drug warrior through and through, although an inconsistent one. He supported the recent Florida ballot initiative (Amendment 3) to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, but he has also called for the execution of drug dealers. Tariffs are just another consequence of the drug war, perhaps not as bad as the erosion of financial privacy, personal freedom, and property rights, but a negative consequence nonetheless.
But tariffs will never stop the “deadly scourge of drugs” from killing Americans. As the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal recently wrote: “Drugs have flowed into the U.S. for decades, and will continue to do so as long as Americans keep using them.” Even if the impossible happens and all drug shipments are prevented from coming into the country, Americans will still continue to die from the “deadly scourge of drugs.”
Trump acts as if Americans never make fentanyl on their own or that Americans are forced to take fentanyl. The terrible truth is that some Americans have an appetite and a desire for drugs. They may use fentanyl directly, they may mix it with other drugs, or they may inadvertently take other drugs that are laced with fentanyl.
If an American dies from ingesting fentanyl or a fentanyl-laced drug, he was not poisoned or killed. He was being reckless and irresponsible. It is not the fault of anyone in Canada, Mexico, or China that an American overdoses on fentanyl. The American who takes drugs is responsible for his actions. A free society must include the right of people to take risks, engage in self-destructive behavior, live an unhealthy lifestyle, and undertake dangerous actions — including the use and abuse of drugs.
