WASHINGTON—The Trump administration issued a series of press releases on Sunday, reaffirming President Donald Trump’s stance on tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China as a “necessary solution.”
Trump pushed back on the arguments made by critics, including some business groups and the Wall Street Journal, who believe the tariffs will drive inflation, hurting consumers and the overall economy.
“The ‘Tariff Lobby,’ headed by the Globalist, and always wrong, Wall Street Journal, is working hard to justify countries like Canada, Mexico, China,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday morning.
He accused them of enabling the decades-long “rip-off of America” through trade, crime, and the influx of drugs into the country.
“Those days are over!” he added, in all caps.
After this message, the White House released a detailed report with data and sources, to defend tariffs and highlight their existing positive impact on the U.S. economy, job growth, and their role in reducing the trade deficit. In another release, the White House criticized the Wall Street Journal, accusing it of supporting “America Last policies.”
The White House report stated that the overdose deaths from fentanyl in the United States increased nearly 25-fold between 2012 and 2022.
Fentanyl is the leading cause of death among Americans aged 18-45, estimated to claim 74,702 lives in 2023, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
Most of the fentanyl entering the country is produced in Mexico using chemical precursors imported from China, the report said, noting that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) actively supports these operations through tax rebates and grants, and even holds stakes in companies involved in trafficking fentanyl and its precursors.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is more potent than morphine and heroin, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
There are two major drug cartels in Mexico that flood the United States with fentanyl, fueling the worst drug crisis in American history.
CBP data showed that in fiscal year 2024, officials seized 21,148 pounds of fentanyl at the U.S. Southwest border—which is “enough to kill 4.8 billion people,” the White House said.
While not as large as Mexico’s drug trafficking, there’s a growing amount of fentanyl being smuggled into the United States through Canada as well in recent years.
The White House said 43 pounds of fentanyl were seized at the northern border last fiscal year, enough to potentially kill 9.8 million Americans.
Sandra Martinez from California lost her daughter to fentanyl in 2020 after the young American suffered a traumatic event.
“I’m so thankful that Trump is back in the seat and can take control, and I’m so thankful that he went through this process,” Martinez told The Epoch Times, referring to the new tariffs.
Evelyn Jones, a Trump supporter whose child has been affected by the drugs, said “fentanyl and synthetic drugs have destroyed families in the United States.”
She told The Epoch Times that even if the kids no longer use synthetic drugs, the impact lingers, because they suffer from a “mental illness epidemic.”
Reactions to Tariffs
Trump invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China starting on Feb. 1 over the countries’ roles in facilitating the influx of illicit fentanyl as well as illegal immigrants into the United States.
He signed an executive order imposing a 25 percent tariff on all non-energy imports from Canada and a 10 percent tariff on energy imports, effective from Feb. 4. In separate executive orders, he imposed a 25 percent tariff on all imports from Mexico and an additional 10 percent tariff on all imports from China. These tariffs will be additional to existing levies.
Many U.S. industry leaders reacted to the announcement, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (USCC).
“The President is right to focus on major problems like our broken border and the scourge of fentanyl, but the imposition of tariffs under IEEPA is unprecedented, won’t solve these problems, and will only raise prices for American families and upend supply chains,” John Murphy, vice president of USCC, said in a statement.
Steve Lamar, president and CEO of the American Apparel & Footwear Association, said the tariffs would harm key export markets that American farmers and manufacturers rely on.
“Widespread tariff actions on Mexico, Canada, and China announced this evening will inject massive costs into our inflation-weary economy while exposing us to a damaging tit-for-tat tariff war,” Lamar said in a statement.
In response to Trump’s message, the Wall Street Journal editorial board also published an op-ed titled, “The Dumbest Trade War Fallout Begins.”
“We appreciate Mr. Trump’s attention, though we’re anti-tariff and not lobbyists,” the editorial board wrote. “But bad policy has damaging consequences, whether or not Mr. Trump chooses to admit it.”
Both Canada and Mexico pledged retaliation in response to Trump’s tariffs.
The impact of tariffs on Canada’s and Mexico’s smaller economies is expected to be much more severe than in the United States, according to analysts.
“Since exports to the U.S. account for around 20 percent of their GDP, today’s tariffs could plunge both the Canadian and Mexican economies into recession later this year,” Paul Ashworth, chief North America economist at London-based research firm Capital Economics, said in a report.
White House Responds to Critics
The White House defended tariffs by referencing a 2024 McKinsey analysis that found tariffs could reduce competition, boost demand for U.S. goods, and create U.S. jobs. It cited another report that showed tariffs led to significant reshoring in industries like manufacturing and steel production.
“President Trump’s global tariffs on steel created over 4,000 new American jobs,” the White House said.
Its report also highlighted the reduction in the trade deficit with China since the first Trump administration imposed tariffs on a wide range of China-made goods.
“President Trump’s 2018 tariffs were so effective that the Biden administration had no choice but to continue and expand them,” the report stated.
It also referred to former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s claim that tariffs don’t significantly raise prices, as well as a bipartisan group of senators who asked President Joe Biden to reimpose steel tariffs on Mexico in September 2024.
The White House also said that the threat of tariffs is working, as it is pushing companies to move production to the United States. It cited statements from CEOs considering relocating production to avoid the tariffs.
Following the tariff news, stock futures tumbled Sunday night.
It’s going to continue to be hard for economists (even some conservatives who are ingrained in the system as it has been managed for decades) to understand what Trump is doing and the long term impact on the future of the country. I just hope Trump can continue to withstand the pressure to resort to self destructive policies that have us in economic harm’s way.
And as for the ships BRINGING in the ‘precursors”. HOWS about we start going after THEM< BEFORE they hit mexican ports!?
Raised Chinese, Canadian or Mexican Tariffs will do one of two things. Either the prices of the Domestic produced products will be similarly raised by greedy American Capitalists on a profit seeking binge, while the Chinese raise the cost of their products to make American consumers eat the increased tariff costs,,,,, or the Americans producers will hold down their profits in competing stabilized prices, forcing the Chinese to eat the increase by paying the taxes. Bear in mind that businesses do not pay taxes, but just pass the increased costs to the consumer. It is governments who make THE PEOPLE pay taxes, either overtly by declaring them up front like Trump honestly is to the Chinese in tariffs, or the Democrat party subverted way of increasing taxes to finance failed “feel Good” social experiments, by printing worthless dollars that flood the economy to finance increased borrowed debt passed on to our kids on borrowed money, where Chinese lenders get rich off interest on our national debt that now exceeds what we spend each year on our military. It’s the Democrat party way of financing the military of our sworn international enemies without the voting taxpayers even getting a clue of their financial slight of hand that makes the party and enemies rich, and WE THE PEOPLE their hard-working Gov tax/debt slaves for life. The laundered moneys exchanged in between and under the table is how political crime families like Bidens and Clintons get rich.
People need to wake up to the fact that the U.S. treasonous, corrupt, lying Democrat Party is our country’s deadliest Enemy.
The Democrat Party elite party are not interested in making our country Great, they are interested in making themselves rich and powerful at the cost of our country and citizens.
Ask yourself; Why would any political party or politician allow 15 Million illegal immigrants into our country and force the U.S. taxpayer to provide them FREE food, clothing, housing, medical, dental, college and cash money? At the cost to the taxpayers of $25 BILLION every month.
How does this benefit our U.S.A.?? How much will it cost the taxpayers to round up these criminal illegal immigrants and send them home??
Obviously they (democrats) are trying to buy votes to stay in power. It would be one thing if the democrats were buying votes with their own constituents money. But they are buying votes by stealing money from every American’s tax payments to fund the vote buying. How can anything be more corrupt than that?
We have had runaway inflation quite recently. That was intentional and by policy with no gain for those paying the cost.
I didn’t notice any of this hand wringing from the Democrat propagandists then. I don’t mind tightening my old belt for the good of We The People, legal citizens.