President-elect Trump announced plans to launch a “large-scale” ad campaign on Wednesday with the goal of educating Americans on the effects of fentanyl.
“I will be working on a large scale United States Advertising Campaign, explaining how bad Fentanyl is for people to use – Millions of lives being so needlessly destroyed. By the time the Campaign is over, everyone will know how really bad the horror of this Drug is,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
The drug is considered a synthetic opioid that resulted in the death of 74,000 last year and 76,000 in 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Biden administration created a Trilateral Fentanyl Committee with the U.S., Mexico and Canada to halt the transport of the illegal drug throughout the neighboring countries.
President Biden also met with China’s President Xi Jinping in 2023, which resulted in resumed counternarcotics cooperation with the nation, where a majority of chemical precursors for fentanyl are manufactured.
Trump hasn’t shared much on how he plans to approach the internal fentanyl crisis in his administration, but he has already warned foreign leaders that high tariffs would be put in place if drugs and illegal immigrants continue to enter the U.S.
Trump promised to impose a 25 percent tariff on all imports from Canada and Mexico on his first day in office until “Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country.”
He also urged China to give “any drug dealers” caught shipping fentanyl into the United States the death penalty. If not, the former president said he would add an additional 10 percent on top of any other tariffs placed on the nation.
Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc responded to Trump’s comments by stating the country places “the highest priority on border security.”
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum reportedly said she would send a letter to Trump with hopes of sparking an open line of communication.
Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy, admitted “no one will win a trade war or a tariff war.”
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