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Since the Trump trade war has rattled the US economy and is wildly unpopular with the American people, the administration needed a pretext for their tariffs. On Sunday, they announced that the trade war has become a drug war.
According to Trump’s National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, Canada is a major source of fentanyl shipping to the United States.
Transcript via ABC’s This Week:
KARL: But let me ask — I’m — I am confused now about what you’re saying about this being a drug war not a trade war. So — so let’s just take Canada.
HASSETT: Uh-huh.
KARL: I mean, you said Canada’s shipping fentanyl into the United States. I mean, I don’t think that’s happening.
I mean, 1 percent of fentanyl is being smuggled across the border, 1 percent. I mean, Canada is not a major source at all of fentanyl in the United States, are they?
HASSETT: Well, there — well, yes they are a major source. And I can tell you that in the Situation Room, I’ve seen photographs of fentanyl labs in Canada that the law enforcement folks were leaving alone. Canada’s got a big drug problem, even in their own cities.
KARL: OK.
HASSETT: Go walk around, you know, Toronto and — and see what it’s like and — and you’ll see that it is a big problem.
Video:
Hassett didn’t have any evidence of this cover-up that he accused Canada of engaging in. The amount of fentanyl seized at the US/Canada border was 43 lbs, which means that fentanyl coming from Canada isn’t the problem that the Trump administration claims it to be.
The Trump administration has shifted course and is now smearing Canada with false drug war claims.
The false fentanyl claims are really about trying to sell the tariffs and the economic pain that they cause to the American people.
Trump’s trade war has been a flop so he will try a drug war instead.
What do you think about the Trump administration smearing Canada? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
