Staff Reports
The Wall Street Journal recently took a curious stance on President Trump’s efforts to combat the fentanyl crisis with economic tariffs. In a strikingly nonchalant editorial, they dismissed the use of financial penalties on imports from Mexico and Canada as not just ineffective but downright foolish. Apparently, while Americans are dropping like flies due to opioid overdoses, the Journal is more concerned about the ongoing flow of low-wage trade — perhaps because it digs into their precious bottom line.
If one were to believe the Journal, a trade war with Mexico and Canada—a war that is supposed to protect American lives—would rank among history’s greatest blunders. This claim would be laughable if the human cost wasn’t so grave. With 727,000 lives lost in the last 25 years to opioid overdoses, a topic the Journal seems to brush off with a yawn, it is hard to understand how they can prioritize cross-border trade over the rampant drug trafficking that feeds America’s opioid epidemic. The Journal’s preoccupation with supply chains, especially in the auto industry, suggests their readers care more about their imports than Americans dying from fentanyl flooding across the border.
This is Miette a very young homeless fentanyl addict who has clearly been taking it cut with xylazine AKA tranq which has likely caused her wounds. @cocainemichelle gave her some Neosporin. It was hard to get her to listen to us and understand the deadly road she is on pic.twitter.com/QRi5g8kRYQ
— Kevin Dahlgren 🥾 🥾 (@kevinvdahlgren) March 25, 2024
Trump’s tariffs, which hit Mexico and Canada with a 25 percent import duty, are aimed at combating the deluge of illegal drugs into the United States. The economy, they argue, will be jolted into action by the tariffs, but it seems clear that for the Journal’s editors, the deaths of ordinary Americans are collateral damage in their relentless push for unhindered trade. They might not see the direct line between imports, factory jobs, and the drug epidemic, but for the average American, the connections are glaringly visible.
As Trump pointed out in his response to the Journal’s editorial, there is an entire “Tariff Lobby,” supposedly led by globalists, who are determined to keep the drug supply flowing freely into America. This narrative echoes the frustrations of many who see the warm reception illegal immigrants and drugs receive while American citizens are left to fend for themselves. While the Journal claims that drug trafficking is a problem that will persist regardless of what happens at the borders, it conveniently neglects how those smugglers often take advantage of unsuspecting transport systems bringing in legitimate goods.
Instead of advocating for policies that could genuinely protect American citizens from the therapeutic toxins that are decimating communities, the Wall Street Journal shakes its head and calls for more immigrants—another approach that appears to prioritize business needs over national security. Their stance suggests that replacing the lost labor force due to drug overdoses with happy-go-lucky, hardworking immigrants is the best way forward. It’s an opinion that reveals a shocking disconnect from the ongoing pain shared by those losing family members to addiction.
While the Journal seeks to maintain its narrative of economic normalcy, many Americans see it differently. The silent majority has begun to realize that when businesses root for an open border while understating the traumas of everyday people, it is time to stand up and demand something better. America is at a crossroads, and its citizens are waking up to the fact that real solutions require a significant departure from the elitist, trade-first mentality that has long run rampant. Instead of arguing about “trade wars,” perhaps it’s time to focus on the true war being waged right on America’s streets: the one fueled by fentanyl and the global networks that profit from it.
