Trump Admin. Adviser Takes Canadian Attack to a New Level: ‘Taken Over by Cartels’

In what seems like a never-ending pursuit for an explanation as to why the Trump administration would open for business by picking a fight with its second-largest trading partner, and famously nice, Canada, we have a new development. On the day on which tariffs of 25% were to be put on Canadian imports (Leaving aside cars for 30 days), Senior White House adviser Peter Navarro decided to make a laughable argument to justify said tariffs under the larger guise of battling fentanyl exports. Navarro would have you know that Canada, presumably including Justin Trudeau – whose family goes back to Liberal Party leadership since the late 1950s – is now under the control of Mexican cartels. Important to note that it is Navarro who would have you know this because it will surely come as shocking news to the Canadian government who – I promise, will not be looking into it anytime soon. He will just infuriate Canadians that much more. Again, ours is only to wonder why.

Last night, Navarro walked onto Fox News and told a skeptical Brett Baier that the tariffs were justified due to the fentanyl pouring across American borders from Canada, as reported by Mediaite and in the video below:

What I wanna say to every world leader who gets up in arms when all we’re asking for is fairness and to have them stop killing our people is please, listen to us. Canada could do a lot more. Canada has been taken over, Bret, by Mexican cartels. They bring up these pill presses and printers, and the medicines that they fake, you can’t tell the difference.

Now, being the erstwhile reporter that he is, Baier immediately asked whether Navarro had some metrics to go along with the accusation – about the drugs, we mean. Even Baier presumably knew that there is little to measure.

“Do you have metrics that you are going to set that they have to meet this and then the tariffs go away? I mean, do we publicly know what that threshold is?”

Perhaps Navarro was caught off guard, what with being asked for some kind of proof, numbers, anecdotes, something. He responded with a laugh and implied that any metrics will involve the number of Americans dying from fentanyl:

Navarro laughed before responding, “Well, there’s 70,000 Americans dying every year, and that’s the low estimate because you don’t pick up all the deaths from the fake Xanax.”

Peter Navarro: “Canada has been taken over by Mexican cartels”

Big if true pic.twitter.com/tWNV9nhvDU

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 6, 2025

There is no question that fentanyl is horrific on many levels in that it is so powerful that there is a very narrow overdose window. The difference between “comfortable high” and “respiratory arrest” is terrifyingly low. It is poison. But that is a medical problem here in the U.S. and has fck all to do with Canada.

The fentanyl trade is an international crisis with respect to where it is made and distributed, that being by a government that actually is susceptible to cartel control – Mexico. All Navarro’s accusation will do is further infuriate Canadians because it appears that the administration is just making things up as they go.

It is painfully easy to get “metrics” (At least as a first approximation) on these things. One need only ask Grok to compare fentanyl seized at the Canadian versus Mexican borders. It leaves the tariff justification wanting: Canada: ~43 pounds (FY 2024), ~53 pounds (to December 2024). Mexico: ~21,148 pounds (FY 2024), ~25,557 pounds (to December 2024). Ratio: Mexico’s seizures exceed Canada’s by 400-500 times, with Canada at 0.2% vs. Mexico’s 97% of the U.S. total.

Because it’s important to stay sharp, another way to look at this is if one takes all the drugs from Mexico out of the picture (the 97%), Canada accounts for less than 10% of the remaining amount! Given the fact that there is a 5,000 mile long border between the two countries, the fact that less than ten percent of the remaining three percent comes from Canada ought to qualify Canada for special trading status… Or a hat or something.

They have no excuse. And that sends us right back into the question as to why they decided to fight with Canadians, now taking it to a new level. Does the American government really want to get into accusations about whose government might be susceptible to influence by corrupt actors? Because there are precious few people who gain in a new dynamic where the U.S. suddenly introduces reckless instability in what had been a perfectly fine, no drama, almost quaint, relationship between neighbors.

Canada already had its tail in the air. Now Navarro implies that it’s Canada’s fault for letting itself come under cartel control. They just keep pushing. And to what end? Well. Here is where we ought to be fairly careful but the number of parties who benefit from the U.S. ripping apart old alliances are few. Their goals, however, seem to be right out in the open.

God Bless: I can be reached at [email protected] and on twitter-X at @JasonMiciak, and follow now on Bluesky. 

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