In a stunning announcement Monday, President-Elect Donald Trump vowed swift action to combat what he described as a surge in fentanyl trafficking and illegal migration at the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada.

Trump pledged to impose a 25% tariff on all imports from both countries, citing their alleged failure to address the crises. He announced the policy would be enacted through an Executive Order on January 20, the day he officially takes office.

“Thousands of people are pouring through Mexico and Canada, bringing Crime and Drugs at levels never seen before,” Trump said in a statement. He singled out an incoming “unstoppable” caravan from Mexico as emblematic of what he described as the failures of both neighboring countries to address the crisis.

“This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

The backdrop to Trump’s shocking policy against Canada—long perceived as a strong ally of the U.S.—includes a recent high-profile case against TD Bank in the United States, resulting in a multi-billion-dollar fine. Months prior to Trump’s announcement, David Asher, a former Trump administration official and consultant on DEA investigations related to the TD probe, told The Bureau that U.S. investigators believe the “command and control” for the fentanyl money-laundering networks allegedly cited in the TD case leads directly to Toronto and Vancouver.

These networks—according to Asher—involve transnational Triads laundering cash from fentanyl distributed in America by Mexican cartels, who source their precursors from China.

In an exclusive interview with The Bureau, Asher criticized the Canadian government for inadequate cooperation in broader fentanyl-trafficking and Triad money laundering investigations, pointing to gang leaders in Canada with alleged ties to Beijing. Asher suggested that possible political and financial influences are hampering effective law enforcement in Canada.

“The key thing is the Canadian connection, and in almost all the investigations as far as money laundering, we saw the command control seemed to go back to our network analysis. When we seized their phones, we’d see Canada light up like a Christmas tree, especially Toronto, and also British Columbia,” Asher said.

Regarding allegations that Triads in Toronto and Vancouver are running fentanyl money-laundering networks for Mexican cartels, Asher added: “The question is, what does the Canadian government know, and why haven’t they tried to judicially prosecute?”

Asher emphasized that the failure to disrupt these networks is contributing to the ongoing fentanyl crisis, which claims tens of thousands of lives annually in the U.S. and Canada.

Furthermore, Asher disclosed that U.S. Congressional investigators allege the People’s Republic of China is not only incentivizing fentanyl precursor exports but also methamphetamine sales.

The tariff, Trump emphasized, will remain until Mexico and Canada take what he called their “absolute right and power” to stop the flow of illegal drugs and migrants.

“We hereby demand that they use this power, and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price,” Trump declared.

The announcement has already sparked sharp reactions from political leaders and trade experts. Critics warn that such sweeping tariffs could disrupt North American trade agreements and exacerbate economic tensions with key allies.

This is a developing story. Stay tuned to The Bureau for updates.

From the Daily Caller News Foundation 

By Harold Hutchison

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa sent Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) co-chairs Tesla CEO Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy a letter Monday with ideas for cuts that could save the federal government over $2 trillion.

Trump named Musk and Ramaswamy as co-chairs of DOGE on Nov. 12. In the seven-page letter, Ernst’s suggestions ranged from addressing unused space in buildings to uncommitted spending for COVID relief, with the proposed cuts totaling over $2 trillion.

Ernst has focused on government waste since her election to the United States Senate in 2014, with a recent focus on the effects of telework and remote work on federal agencies.

“When faced with proposals to trim the fat from Washington’s budget, members of Congress from both parties act like Goldilocks,” Ernst wrote. “It’s too little or too big, always too hard, and never just right. But the real ‘make-believe’ of this fairy tale is that it’s impossible to reduce Washington’s budget without causing pain. Most Americans aren’t even benefitting in any meaningful way from hundreds of billions of dollars being wasted.”

“While you’re seeking ‘super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries’ for ‘unglamorous cost-cutting,’ all that’s really needed is a little common sense. If you can’t find waste in Washington, there can only be one reason: you didn’t look,” Ernst continued.

Three rail projects in California with a combined price tag of over $135 billion, $213 million in unemployment payments to millionaires, $31 million in pay to government employees with no assigned duties and $10 billion in inaccurate Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program payments are among the programs Ernst listed as potential cuts. Ernst also said there was over $1.6 trillion in uncommitted COVID relief spending.

Ernst announced Friday she would lead a Senate DOGE caucus to work alongside Musk and Ramaswamy, while Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was named as chair of a House Oversight Committee subpanel called the Delivering on Government Efficiency panel.

“I have a simple message to the bureaucrats who haven’t shown up for work in years and the government contractors and grantees collecting millions to study how fast a shrimp runs on a treadmill – buckle up because accountability is coming,” Ernst said in a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “My decade-long mission to make Washington squeal has created an exhaustive list of more than $2 trillion worth of waste, fraud, and abuse that I will work with DOGE to cut. We are going to break down the nonsense that has taken over Washington and put in its place a government that actually works for the people.”

Ernst previously questioned USAID over an employee who improperly received “locality pay” for the Washington, D.C. area despite living in Florida, and requested a staff briefing after a second instance of improper locality pay involving another USAID employee living in North Carolina was reported.

In an August 2023 letter requesting a review of the issues involved with telecommuting sent to 24 government agencies, Ernst cited a media account of a VA employee who attended a staff meeting while taking a bubble bath.

Ernst wrote the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), urging the agency to take emergency action in an August 28 letter sent to EPA Administrator Michael Regan about contaminants that built up in the drinking water of federal buildings left unoccupied by a shift to remote work.

Ernst introduced the Stopping Home Office Work’s Unproductive Problems (SHOW UP) Act, in September 2023 as part of a package of legislation to rein in the “administrative state.”

“This is by no means an exhaustive list, and I will be providing many more recommendations soon,” Ernst wrote. “My team and I are ready to help you make some prime cuts.”

The Trump-Vance transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.