President Donald Trump said his administration will go ahead with 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico on March 4, saying the two countries have not done enough on drug smuggling.
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Feb. 27, Trump said drugs like fentanyl were still “pouring into” the United States from the two countries at “unacceptable” levels, which he said had resulted in the death of more than 100,000 Americans in 2024.
“We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the U.S.A, and therefore, until it stops or is seriously limited, the proposed tariffs scheduled to go into effect on March 4 will, indeed, go into effect as scheduled,” Trump said.
During a cabinet meeting the previous day, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had said Canada and Mexico could avoid the tariffs if they proved to the U.S. administration they had done enough on border security. But Trump interjected that it would be “hard to satisfy” him.
When asked earlier in the meeting whether he would continue the pause on tariffs past March 4, Trump said “I’m not stopping the tariffs,” and that “not all of them, but a lot of them” would come into force on April 2.
Canada’s Public Safety Minister David McGuinty, while visiting Washington on Feb. 27 to discuss the border, said his government is “quite convinced that the efforts we’ve made thus far should satisfy the U.S. administration.”
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The U.S. administration has threatened to impose several different tariff measures on Canada on various dates, which has led to some confusion around their timing.
On Feb. 24, when Trump was asked if Canada and Mexico had done enough on their borders to stop 25 percent tariffs, he replied the United States was “on time with the tariffs.”
He said countries like Canada had been taking advantage of the United States, but did not mention border security. He then said he wanted to see “reciprocity” on trade, suggesting he was referring to separate reciprocal tariffs he has planned to place on countries, including Canada.
Trump signed a trade memorandum on Jan. 20 for the United States Trade Representative and Commerce Department to study the use of tariffs to reduce trade deficits with other countries, which will be completed by April 1. On Feb. 13, he also signed a memorandum for the government agencies to investigate non-reciprocal trade practices and come up with an assessment of fiscal impacts within 180 days.
In addition to these tariffs, Trump has also announced 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, which are set to take effect next month.
Border Security
Canadian officials have been working to prevent 25 percent tariffs from being placed on the country since Trump first mentioned his plans back in November 2024. Ottawa announced a $1.3 billion border security package in December that included the suggestion of creating of a joint task force targeting organized crime and synthetic drug trafficking, as well as border surveillance.
In his last-minute phone call with Trump on Feb. 3 after border tariffs were announced, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also pledged to appoint a “fentanyl czar” and designate drug cartels as terrorist organizations, which the government later did.
When announcing that agreement, Trump said the tariffs would be paused until a “final economic deal” could be made with Canada. If Trump wants to extend the pause past March 4, or reduce or cancel the tariffs, he will need to sign another executive order, which he has yet to do.
According to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Canada-U.S. border has seen a slight increase in drug seizures in the last four months when compared to the year prior.
The Canada-U.S. border saw 3,226 pounds of drugs seized in the period from October 2024 to January 2025, compared to 1,911 pounds from October 2023 to January 2024. When it comes to fentanyl, there have been 43 pounds seized in 2024 compared to 10 pounds seized in the 2025 fiscal year to date.
At the U.S.-Mexico border, there has been a slight decrease in the amount of drugs seized. There were 66,500 pounds of drugs seized from October 2024 to January 2025, while 73,000 were seized from October 2023 to January 2024.
For fentanyl, 21,100 pounds of the substance was seized in 2024 at the southern border. This year has seen similar rates of seizure with 5,400 pounds in 2025 so far.
Reuters contributed to this report.
