In a late-night tirade against top Senate Republicans, President Donald Trump—repeating a claim he made earlier in the week—insisted that smuggled fentanyl can be subjected to tariffs, drawing widespread ridicule, including from conservatives. He offered no explanation for how such a policy would work, nor did he clarify whether traffickers are expected to declare illegal drugs at the border.
Just before 1 AM, the President blasted former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and his fellow Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, along with Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and Maine’s Susan Collins, for supporting legislation that would remove the tariffs the President is imposing on the nation of Canada, one of America’s largest and oldest allies and trading partners. The Constitution grants Congress, not the President, the power over tariffs.
Trump urged them to “get on the Republican bandwagon, for a change, and fight the Democrats wild and flagrant push to not penalize Canada for the sale, into our Country, of large amounts of Fentanyl, by Tariffing the value of this horrible and deadly drug in order to make it more costly to distribute and buy.”
READ MORE: ‘Paralyzed’: Johnson Mocked for Shutting House Down After ‘Brutal’ Defeat
The President has offered different reasons at different times over the past few months to explain why he is imposing tariffs on Canada. Fentanyl from Canada represents an infinitesimal amount of the drug that comes into the U.S.—most of which is smuggled in by American citizens.
Trump continued his rant, baselessly blaming the four Republicans for “allowing Fentanyl to pour into our Country unchecked, and without penalty.”
“What is wrong with them, other than suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, commonly known as TDS?” he asked, before declaring they are “extremely difficult to deal with and, unbelievably disloyal to hardworking Majority Leader John Thune, and the Republican Party itself.”
Economic historian Phil Magness observed, “If this panic-tweet is true, it appears that the GOP has the 4 votes needed for the Senate resolution rescinding Trump’s unconstitutional tariff decree against Canada.” He added: “Trump appears to believe that his tariff is actually taxing illegal fentanyl sales.”
READ MORE: ‘Trying to Understand’: Senator Who Backed RFK Jr. Now on Defense After Massive HHS Firing
Just one day earlier, Trump had also suggested that illegal fentanyl being smuggled in from Canada can be tariffed.
“Senator Tim Kaine, who ran against me with Crooked Hillary in 2016, is trying to halt our critical Tariffs on deadly Fentanyl coming in from Canada,” Trump wrote.
Responding to Wednesday’s post-midnight tirade, critics of various political stripes, mocked the President.
Jonah Goldberg, the conservative journalist and author of the book “Liberal Fascism,” wrote: “Wait. Does Trump think we can tariff the ‘sale’ of fentanyl into America from those Canadian drug cartels?”
Attorney George Conway, responding to Goldberg, remarked, “Trump really is just plain … dumb.”
U.S. Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) also mocked Trump.
“I’m withholding my judgement on this bill until I see whether the sales & use tax exemptions allow fentanyl precursors to evade this tariff,” Casten wrote, before adding: “(I’m joking of course. It takes a very dumb man to think drug traffickers are filing import paperwork & tax forms at the border.)”
Economist Max Gulker, a senior policy research analyst at the libertarian Reason Foundation, took a more textbook approach. Since President Trump at times has claimed he is placing tariffs on goods to motivate manufacturers to return to the U.S., Gulker
wrote: “Wait are these strategic tariffs or are we trying to reshore fentanyl labs?”
