Proposed US tariffs will be paused for at least 30 days: Trudeau

Canada to appoint Fentanyl Czar, list cartels as terrorists

 

PRIME Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement on X on Monday that the proposed US tariffs on Canada “will be paused for at least 30 days while we work together.”

Trudeau and US President Donald Trump spoke twice on Monday, once in the morning and then in the afternoon.

Earlier, Trump paused tariffs on Mexico after a phone call with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum who said she would deploy 10,000 Mexican soldiers to the border to stop the flow of fentanyl and illegal migrants into the U.S.

Trudeau wrote: “I just had a good call with President Trump. Canada is implementing our $1.3 billion border plan — reinforcing the border with new choppers, technology and personnel, enhanced coordination with our American partners, and increased resources to stop the flow of fentanyl. Nearly 10,000 frontline personnel are and will be working on protecting the border.”

He added: “In addition, Canada is making new commitments to appoint a Fentanyl Czar, we will list cartels as terrorists, ensure 24/7 eyes on the border, launch a Canada- U.S. Joint Strike Force to combat organized crime, fentanyl and money laundering. I have also signed a new intelligence directive on organized crime and fentanyl and we will be backing it with $200 million.”

 

HOWEVER, it appears that Trump’s real aim is to get Canada to allow U.S. banks to do business here to benefit his rich business supporters.

“Canada doesn’t even allow U.S. Banks to open or do business there. What’s that all about?” he complained in a post on Social Truth.

 

FENTANYL has been a major factor for Trump, though, as CNN points out: “[U.S.] Federal statistics show US border authorities seized 21,889 pounds of fentanyl in the 2024 fiscal year. Of that amount, 43 pounds were seized at the Canadian border — about 0.2% — compared with 21,148 pounds at the Mexican border, about 96.6%.”

Trump in his February 1 Executive Order “imposing duties to address the flow of illicit drugs across our northern border” stated: “There is also a growing presence of Mexican cartels operating fentanyl and nitazene synthesis labs in Canada.  The flow of illicit drugs like fentanyl to the United States through both illicit distribution networks and international mail — due, in the case of the latter, to the existing administrative exemption from duty and taxes, also known as de minimis, under section 1321 of title 19, United States Code — has created a public health crisis in the United States, as outlined in the Presidential Memorandum of January 20, 2025 (America First Trade Policy) and Executive Order 14157 of January 20, 2025 (Designating Cartels and Other Organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists).”

He wrote: “With respect to smuggling of illicit drugs across our northern border, Canada’s Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre recently published a study on the laundering of proceeds of illicit synthetic opioids, which recognized Canada’s heightened domestic production of fentanyl, largely from British Columbia, and its growing footprint within international narcotics distribution.  Despite a North American dialogue on the public health impacts of illicit drugs since 2016, Canadian officials have acknowledged that the problem has only grown.  And while U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) within the Department of Homeland Security seized, comparatively, much less fentanyl from Canada than from Mexico last year, fentanyl is so potent that even a very small parcel of the drug can cause many deaths and destruction to America families.  In fact, the amount of fentanyl that crossed the northern border last year could kill 9.5 million Americans.”

He added: “Immediate action is required to finally end this public health crisis and national emergency, which will not happen unless the compliance and cooperation of Canada is assured.”

 

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