President Donald Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada and China is partly aimed at combating the illicit flow of fentanyl into the U.S., where the opioid is blamed for some 70,000 overdose deaths annually.
Mexico agreed Monday to send 10,000 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border as part of a deal with Trump to pause the tariffs for a month — and hold off levying its own.
Neither Canada nor China has signaled major changes to tackle the flow of fentanyl into the U.S., and each has said it would retaliate for any U.S. tariffs.
What role do Mexico, Canada and China play in fentanyl reaching the U.S.? And how much can their governments do?
The ingredients in fentanyl are largely produced by companies in China and used by pharmaceutical companies to make legal painkillers. But a portion of those chemicals is purchased by the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels in Mexico.
Cartels make the synthetic opioid in labs and then smuggle it into the U.S., largely at official land crossings in California and Arizona. The small amounts of fentanyl in any shipment — the drug is 50 times more potent than heroin — and its lack of odor, make detection and seizures extremely challenging.
Fentanyl is also made in Canada and smuggled into the U.S., but to a much lesser extent. U.S. customs agents seized 43 pounds (19.5 kilograms) of fentanyl at the Canadian border during the last fiscal year, compared with 21,100 pounds (9,570 kilograms) at the Mexican border.
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