Will Trump's Trade War End America's Fentanyl Crisis?

Simply severing supply chain not enough; challenge is also to curb demand for drug

- Bhagyashree Garekar

The motivation for President Donald Trump's trade wars on friends and foes alike has an unlikely source: the fentanyl crisis in the United States.

One of the most lethal drug epidemics in human history, fentanyl has killed nearly one million Americans since the start of this century.

In scale, the crisis is comparable to China's 19th-century opium crisis, where tens of millions were addicted to the drug. But the fentanyl crisis dwarfs the opium crisis in its sheer intensity.

While China's crisis spiralled over a century, the fentanyl crisis has exploded in the US in just over two decades.

It is more than 50 times as powerful as heroin - just a 2mg dose of fentanyl can be fatal.

As a prescription drug, it is used to manage severe pain from cancer and other diseases. But it was overprescribed and abused for the euphoria it produces. An overdose results in respiratory failure, leading to death.

HOW CHINA, MEXICO AND CANADA ARE INVOLVED

Its supply and use have surged since 2012 when China emerged as the cheap and primary source of chemicals that go into making the synthetic drug.

The chemicals are processed into a deadly powder or pills by powerful Mexican cartels that sell it across the border in the US.

A much smaller proportion is smuggled in from Canada.

A kilogram of fentanyl can fit in a backpack and sell for millions of dollars on the street. Sometimes, drones or ultralight aircraft are used on drug runs.

During the epidemic's worst two years, 2021 and 2022, more than 100,000 people in the US died in each of those years from overdoses. In 2024, these deaths stood at over 86,000. Four in 10 American adults say they know someone who died of an overdose, according to a study.

The coast-to-coast crisis has devastated families and communities, taking a heavy toll on the economy too.