SANTA MONICA and MEXICO CITY – Late last week U.S. President Trump proposed tariffs against Mexico, Canada, and China. The tariffs were being levied against the three countries because, according to White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt, the three countries were responsible for allowing fentanyl to freely flow into the United States that caused millions of deaths to Americans who had freely chosen to purchase the drugs illegally.
The United States has a fentanyl problem. For sure. But, where did the problem begin and how do we fix it? The problem arguably began when Purdue Pharma promoted the drug and engaged in questionable prescription writing policies resulting in hundreds of deaths to the American people. President Trump is correct when he argues that the problem is a global problem – the issue most Americans and others have is Trump’s way of going about fixing and stating the problems.
An international firestorm began after Trump said he would levy tariffs against Canada and Mexico. Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada quickly repsonded. He said that Canada would levy their own tariffs against the United States and predicted that both Canadian and American citizens would be the losers in this needless trade war.
This morning, president Trump spoke with Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum. Sheinbaum announced on television that the tariffs would be paused for approximately three weeks.
The potential for tariffs and an all out trade war impacted the stock market. Stock market trading immediately reacted to the news and fell at least 1 – 2% as investors rushed to protect themselves from losing too much money. The AP reported that the DOW dropped 665 points after the morning’s roller coaster.
China remains silent and has had a muted reaction to Trump’s proposed tariffs.
Some content courtesy of the Guardian, NBC News, NPR, CTV Canada, the Associated Press, and YouTube.
