\n<\/p>\n
Standing behind heaping piles of drugs stacked in clear plastic bags and storage boxes, Toronto\u2019s police chief last week announced the force\u2019s largest-ever cocaine seizure, intercepted at the border in a truck entering from the United States. <\/p>\n
A few hours later, President Trump also addressed cross-border drug trafficking \u2014 but in his case to lay blame on Canada, at least in part, for a deadly fentanyl scourge. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe fentanyl coming through Canada is massive,\u201d Mr. Trump told reporters the day after his inauguration. \u201cThe fentanyl coming through Mexico is massive. And people are getting killed and families are being destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a repeat of his claim that Canada and Mexico have not done enough to reinforce their borders and block the flow of narcotics \u2014 and migrants \u2014 to the United States. He <\/span>has threatened to impose punitive tariffs<\/a> of 25 percent on exports from both countries on Feb. 1.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary nominee, reiterated that stance at his confirmation hearing on Wednesday, calling for Canada to \u201crespect America.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf we are your biggest trading partner, show us the respect,\u201d Mr. Lutnick said. \u201cShut your border and end fentanyl coming into this country.\u201d<\/p>\n To stave off the threatened tariffs, the Canadian government has been sending drones, canine units and helicopters<\/a> to support surveillance at the border. But recent announcements by law enforcement officials about those efforts and assurances from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada seem to have done little to appease the new U.S. administration.<\/p>\n Given the limited role Canada plays in the cross-border fentanyl trade, however, it\u2019s not clear how much it could really do to ease the American opioid crisis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Before 2020, trafficking networks in Canada were primarily conduits for imported fentanyl and other opioids. But in recent years, they have increased domestic production, a trend that other countries are expected to follow, according to a report<\/a> published this month by Canada\u2019s financial intelligence agency.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Canadian officials believe there were about 100 organized crime groups involved in fentanyl production in the country last year, a more than fourfold increase from 2022.<\/p>\n The police have located clandestine fentanyl labs around the country, primarily in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario. In November, officers in British Columbia said they had shut down Canada\u2019s largest lab<\/a> yet, hidden on a rural property, seizing enough chemicals to produce 96 million doses of fentanyl. The investigation showed links to Mexican cartels.<\/p>\n Before the shift toward domestic drug production, the Canadian police and border agents were combating the flow of fentanyl powder \u2014 to be pressed into pills \u2014 that was shipped into the country in near-undetectable quantities in the mail. Now, the focus is on the import of chemicals used to synthesize fentanyl, known as precursors.<\/p>\n As the opioid epidemic raged in the United States, killing thousands, Congress in 2020 established a commission to look into ways to reduce the flow of the drugs into the country. The commission found that \u201cCanada is not known to be a major source of fentanyl, other synthetic opioids or precursor chemicals to the United States, a conclusion primarily drawn from seizure data,\u201d according to its February 2022 report<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Last year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents intercepted about 19 kilograms of fentanyl at the northern border, compared with almost 9,600 kilograms at the border with Mexico, where cartels mass-produce the drug<\/a>.<\/p>\n Financially, it doesn\u2019t make sense for Canadian criminal groups to focus on exporting fentanyl south, said Daniel Anson, the director of intelligence and investigations at the Canada Border Services Agency. \u201cMexican fentanyl, due to the cost and the street price, is very difficult to compete with in the U.S.,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Canada\u2019s public safety agency said that while local crime groups producing opioids tend to service the domestic market, they have also expanded to other markets, including in Australia, New Zealand and Japan. The Australian police in 2022 intercepted a large fentanyl shipment<\/a> from Canada, about five million doses.<\/p>\n Canada has some of the strictest chemical import regulations in the world under its Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, but health officials and police often struggle to keep up with the evolving chemical components used by organized criminals to produce fentanyl.<\/p>\n About 80 percent of the chemicals used to make fentanyl can legally be imported from China or purchased within Canada, according to a report published this month by the Criminal Intelligence Service of Canada. Some criminal groups are setting up private companies to shield the intent of their purchases, the report said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In a recent case out of Alberta, a man operating what was believed to be the province\u2019s largest illicit fentanyl lab was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Investigators found the operation by tracking shipments of precursor chemicals legally imported into Canada from Chinese manufacturers.<\/p>\n While the quantities of fentanyl leaving Canada for the United States are minuscule \u2014 0.2 percent of what is seized at the U.S. southern border \u2014 Mr. Anson said the Canadian border agency had established new teams to focus on the export of the drug, as well as the import of synthetic chemicals. It will also set up a border financial crime center over the next year to target trade-based money laundering and fraud.<\/p>\n \u201cI am 100 percent oriented toward ensuring that we don\u2019t become the weak link,\u201d Mr. Anson said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nWhere does fentanyl in Canada come from?<\/h2>\n
How much Canadian fentanyl crosses into the U.S.?<\/h2>\n
What is Canada doing about it?<\/h2>\n