Canada’s last-minute reprieve from crushing U.S. tariffs came after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled a series of measures aimed at controlling the trafficking of fentanyl, a key reason President Trump has cited for wanting to impose levies.
Fentanyl has flooded North America’s drug supply over the last decade, killing tens of thousands in Canada and the United States, and generating enormous profits for criminal organizations using basic chemistry skills, improvised equipment and home laboratories to produce millions of doses.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly talked about fentanyl as a major public health threat to Americans and holds Mexico and Canada responsible for allowing the drug to enter the United States. But last year, less than 1 percent of the fentanyl arriving in the United States came from Canada.
That 1% number is disputed and there is no data on the import/export of precursor drugs.
