White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Sunday he was hopeful a dispute with Canada over accusations of the deadly fentanyl opioid entering the U.S. across its northern border could be resolved by the end of March.
His comments on ABC News’s “This Week” raise the possibility that tariffs due to be reimposed by U.S. President Donald Trump at the end of the month could be stayed further.
In reality, Canada is responsible for a minuscule proportion of drug smuggling into the United States and it wasn’t immediately clear what progress Hassett was referring to.
Democratic U.S. Senator Adam Schiff from California, who appeared after Hassett on ABC, called the adviser’s comments “incomprehensible.”
Trump has also made it very clear that this isn’t really about fentanyl, that’s just a convenient excuse (he can’t impose tariffs without congress unless it’s for “national security.”)
His real purpose seems to be some combination of “if I hurt Canada then that makes America stronger somehow” and “if I hurt Canada enough then they’ll give up and submit to being conquered by America outright.” He’s said both of these things, and Trump is too cheese-brained to be an effective liar; when he shows you what he’s really like you should believe him.
It’s a war of aggression, essentially. Fentanyl is just his Gulf of Tonkin.
Right. Obvious to most except maybe those with only two brain cells strung together with spray cheese.