Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada will have '10,000 frontline personnel' dedicated to border security while the two countries work together on an agreement.
OTTAWA, Ontario (LifeSiteNews) -- Canada has been given a 30-day reprieve from 25 percent tariffs by U. S. President Donald Trump after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised in a call this afternoon to increase border security and crack down on fentanyl at the border.
“I just had a good call with President Trump,” Trudeau wrote Monday on X.
“Proposed tariffs will be paused for at least 30 days while we work together.”
Trudeau noted how Canada was implementing a “$1.3 billion border plan – reinforcing the border with new choppers, technology and personnel, enhanced coordination with our American partners, and increased resources to stop the flow of fentanyl.”
Trudeau, who spoke with Trump twice Monday, said that Canada now will have “10,000 frontline personnel” who are “working on protecting the border.”
“In addition, Canada is making new commitments to appoint a Fentanyl czar, we will list cartels as terrorists, ensure 24/7 eyes on the border, launch a Canada- U.S. Joint Strike Force to combat organized crime, fentanyl and money laundering,” Trudeau said.
Canada’s counter tariffs that were announced on Saturday are now paused, Trudeau confirmed, for a period of “at least 30 days” while the U.S. and Canada “work together.”
On Saturday, Trump said an unprecedented 25 percent tariff on all imports from Canada and Mexico would soon be coming. Canadian oil and gas exports, as well as electricity exports that the U.S. imports in abundance, would be subject to a 10 percent tariff as well. Of note is that Trump enacted only a 10 percent tariff on goods from China.
On Monday, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo announced that after talking with Trump, tariffs on Mexico have been delayed for no less than one month.
On Monday as well, Trump again said that Canada should become the 51st state, saying he would “love” to see that happen but then said it would be a “long shot.” He also said that tariffs would not be implemented if Canada joined the U.S.
Trump claimed that the tariffs come in response to “the drugs, fentanyl, and everything else that have come into the country” from Canada and Mexico as well as “massive subsidies that we’re giving to Canada and to Mexico in the form of deficits.”
Despite Trump’s claims, he made no mention of the fact of serious drug addiction problems affecting many parts of the United States, where demand for drugs is high.
For context, in 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized about 21,148 pounds of fentanyl at the Mexico border. By contrast, only 43 pounds of the deadly drug was seized at the Canadian border. The fact remains that a large and significant amount of fentanyl’s originators are from China.
Today, Canada’s leading taxpayer advocacy group told LifeSiteNews in response to Trump’s recent tariffs against the nation and Trudeau’s counter-tariff response that they “don’t help people” and just make everything more expensive for families. The group said what needs to be done to help families is for the Trudeau government to “cut” taxes at once.
Polls have revealed that 77 percent of Canadians want an immediate election to deal with the tariff threat.
