'Unacceptable': Trump vows punishing tariffs against key allies will soon take effect

Donald Trump insisted again that proposed tariffs against Canadian and Mexican imports would go into effect next week despite efforts by both countries to improve border security to prevent the flow of fentanyl into the U.S.

The president wildly inflated the number of overdose deaths attributed to the drug during his first cabinet meeting Wednesday, and the following day he announced on Truth Social that would go through with his threat to impose punishing 25-percent duties on the United States' two closest neighbors starting Tuesday.

"Drugs are still pouring into our Country from Mexico and Canada at very high and unacceptable levels," Trump posted. "A large percentage of these Drugs, much of them in the form of Fentanyl, are made in, and supplied by, China. More than 100,000 people died last year due to the distribution of these dangerous and highly addictive POISONS. Millions of people have died over the last two decades. The families of the victims are devastated and, in many instances, virtually destroyed."

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Trump had claimed at the cabinet meeting that 300,000 people a year died from fentanyl overdoses, which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated was actually more than 55,000 for the 12-month period ending in September 2024, but he revised that number down in his tariff announcement.

"We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the USA, and therefore, until it stops, or is seriously limited, the proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled," Trump posted. "China will likewise be charged an additional 10% Tariff on that date. The April Second Reciprocal Tariff date will remain in full force and effect. Thank you for your attention to this matter. GOD BLESS AMERICA!"