US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he will lift a month-long tariff pause and impose a 25% tariff on most Canadian goods starting 4 March, citing concerns over drug trafficking.
Despite evidence of a significant decrease in fentanyl smuggling, Trump claimed that "drugs are still pouring into our country" and vowed to keep tariffs in place "until it stops, or is seriously limited."
Trump also confirmed that additional reciprocal tariffs on specific Canadian goods, set to take effect in April, "will remain in full force and effect."
The announcement follows a week of conflicting statements, with the president initially saying on Monday that Canada was "ripping off the US" and the tariffs would return. However, White House officials later clarified that negotiations were ongoing.
Trump appeared decisive, stating that "proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled on Thursday."
Despite Trump's justification for the tariffs, data from US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) suggests that fentanyl smuggling from Canada has plummeted.
According to figures released earlier this month, CBP recorded a 97% drop in fentanyl seizures from December 2024 to January 2025—a decline that Canadian officials attribute to a $1.3 billion border security initiative.
Additionally, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and law enforcement agencies have reported multiple high-profile fentanyl busts. Earlier this month, officers at the Windsor-Detroit tunnel arrested two US citizens carrying enough fentanyl to kill an estimated 10,000 people.
Canadian police are also seeing progress in their nationwide fentanyl crackdown. The RCMP reported that over a recent six-week period, they handled 489 cases related to fentanyl and synthetic opioids, resulting in 524 arrests and the seizure of 46 kilograms of fentanyl along with 15,765 fentanyl and opioid pills.
Meanwhile, Canada’s ambassador to the US, Kirsten Hillman, told CBC News last week that illegal migration from Canada into the US has dropped by 90% in recent months—progress that Trump’s advisers have acknowledged positively.
However, Trump remains unconvinced. In his social media post, he blamed Canada, Mexico, and China for the "distribution of these dangerous and highly addictive POISONS", reinforcing his stance that trade penalties are necessary.
