A map of the Americas and a picture of Donald Trump

Andrea Austria/ Media Matters

Research/Study Research/Study

Right-wing media admit Trump’s “drug war” is really a trade war

Liz Claman: “We have a trade war. Let’s just call it what it is.”

Written by Torri Lonergan

Published

Right-wing media appear not to be fully aligned with President Donald Trump’s framing of his tariffs. After announcing tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China, Trump administration officials tried to claim this was the start of a “drug war” rather than a trade war, insisting that Trump imposed the tariffs to combat fentanyl trafficking. However, some right-wing media figures have acknowledged that Trump’s tariffs are a tactic in a trade war that is hurting the economy.

  • The Trump administration has repeatedly insisted its tariffs are part of a drug war, not a trade war

    • On March 4, Trump imposed a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico. The administration said the tariffs were intended to combat “the flow of contraband drugs like fentanyl into the United States.” Trump complained that both countries have “allowed fentanyl to come into our country at levels never seen before, killing hundreds of thousands of our citizens” and said the tariffs will continue until the fentanyl crisis “stops, or is seriously limited.” Trump also imposed a 20% tariff on imports from China using the same rationale. [White House, 2/1/25, 3/3/25; Associated Press, 3/4/25, 3/5/25; Truth Social, 2/27/25; Tax Foundation, 3/7/25]
    • National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told Fox’s Martha MacCallum, “This is not a trade war. It’s a drug war.” Hassett complained that Canada is “not trying hard enough” to prevent fentanyl trafficking and claimed that’s why tariffs were implemented. [Fox News, The Story with Martha MacCallum, 3/4/25]
    • On Fox, Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro insisted, “It’s a drug war, not a trade war.” Navarro reiterated this point to Politico and CNN and while speaking to reporters outside the White House. [Fox News, America Reports, 2/3/25; Politico, 2/4/25; CNN, The Situation Room, 3/5/25; C-SPAN, 2/3/25]
    • Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Bloomberg, “This is not a trade war. This is a drug war.” Lutnick made the same argument on Fox Business, Fox News, and CNBC, insisting the tariffs are about fentanyl deaths rather than trade policy. [Bloomberg, 3/5/25; Fox Business, Kudlow, 3/4/25; Fox News, America Reports, 3/5/25; CNBC, Squawk Box, 3/4/25]
    • Fox News helped amplify Trump's “drug war” narrative. The Trump administration’s propagandist allies at Fox News were initially helpful in rebranding the unnecessary trade war against America’s neighbors as a necessary step in a “drug war” against fentanyl while the administration spread misinformation about the crisis. [Media Matters, 3/5/25]
    • While U.S. officials have claimed this is a “drug war,” both Canadian and Mexican leaders have labeled it a “trade war.” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada “will continue to be in a trade war that was launched by the United States for the foreseeable future.” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum stated, “We don’t want to enter into a trade war.” [Reuters, 3/6/25; The New York Times, 3/4/25]

  • Data and Trump’s own actions undermine his claim that the tariffs are about drugs

    • Neither Mexican nor Canadian citizens are primarily responsible for trafficking fentanyl into the United States — U.S. citizens are. According to the Cato Institute, 80% of people caught with fentanyl at ports of entry from 2019 to 2024 were American citizens. The Cato Institute explains that this data point is the “most relevant to understanding fentanyl seizure activity because the vast majority of fentanyl is seized at ports of entry, not between the ports where people cross illegally.” Immigration Impact reported that, “In 2018, 77% of all people sentenced on federal drug trafficking crimes were U.S. citizens.” [Media Matters, 3/5/25; Cato Institute, 8/8/24; Immigration Impact, 9/7/22]
    • Just 0.2% of fentanyl seizures at U.S. borders occurred at the northern border in 2024. CNN reported that 43 pounds of fentanyl were seized at the U.S.-Canada border in 2024, as compared to 21,148 pounds at the U.S.-Mexico border the same year. In 2023, only two pounds of fentanyl were seized at the Canadian border, and only 14 pounds were seized there the year before that. [CNN, 2/3/25]
    • Despite the fact that the vast majority of fentanyl that enters the U.S. enters through the southern border, Trump issued a pause in the tariffs that primarily benefits Mexico. On March 6, after speaking with Sheinbaum, Trump announced that he would not charge tariffs on products that are covered by the United States-Mexico-Canada free trade treaty until April 2. The Associated Press reported that this postponement applies to “most goods from Mexico and some imports from Canada.” [CNN, 2/3/25, 3/6/25; Associated Press, 3/6/25] 
    • Trump says he’s concerned about fentanyl, but he has weakened the United States’ ability to intercept drugs by pausing funding and ordering federal agencies to focus on immigration enforcement instead. Agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Department of Homeland Security; and the FBI were reportedly instructed to prioritize immigration enforcement and mass deportations over efforts to combat fentanyl trafficking. The Trump administration also advised prosecutors with the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force to focus on immigration-related prosecutions rather than drug-related prosecutions. Meanwhile, Trump’s foreign aid freeze temporarily halted State Department and United Nations programs meant to prevent fentanyl and its precursor chemicals from entering both Mexico and the United States. [Media Matters, 3/5/25; The New Republic, 1/28/25; USA Today, 2/14/25; U.S. Department of Justice, 1/21/25; Reuters, 2/13/25, 2/24/25]
    • NPR reported that Trump “keeps neglecting” his claim that fentanyl trafficking is the official rationale for these tariffs, “giving others instead.” Trump has said that in order to avoid tariffs, Canada and Mexico would have to move car manufacturing plants to the U.S., that Canada would need to end its trade deficit with the U.S., and even that Canada would need to become the 51st state. [Media Matters, 3/5/25; NPR, 2/3/25; CNN, 3/3/25; The Hill, 2/3/25] 

  • Trump’s tariffs will hurt the U.S. economy

    • The tariffs are expected to raise prices for American consumers. The price of gas, groceries, cars, electronics, and other goods are expected to rise, costing American households between $1,600 and $2,000 a year, according to the Yale Budget Lab. [CBS News, 3/6/25; The Budget Lab, 3/3/25] 
    • According to the Tax Foundation, tariffs on Mexico and Canada are expected to cost 202,000 jobs and reduce GDP by 0.2%. Including the additional tariffs on China and steel and aluminum imports, Trump’s tariffs are expected to cost a total of 309,000 jobs and reduce GDP by 0.4%. [Tax Foundation, 3/7/25]
    • Canada responded to Trump’s tariffs with retaliatory tariffs on American goods. Justin Trudeau labeled Trump’s tariffs “a very dumb thing to do,” and CBS News reported that Canada planned to “impose a $30 billion counter-tariff on goods imported from the U.S. immediately, escalating to $155 billion worth of American products within the next 21 days.” Canadian officials said Canada would no longer escalate its tariffs as planned, but would not lift its initial retaliatory tariffs in response to Trump’s postponements and exemptions for specific products — only if Trump cancels the tariffs altogether. Incoming Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney also vowed to keep the retaliatory tariffs in place “until the Americans show us respect,” saying, “In trade, as in hockey, Canada will win.” [CBS News, 3/5/24; Associated Press, 3/6/25; BBC, 3/9/25; The Guardian, 3/12/25]

  • Some in right-wing media have labeled the tariff situation as a “trade war”

    • Fox Business anchor Liz Claman said, “We have a trade war. Let’s just call it what it is.” Claman questioned how long “the people of America will remain patient, especially when they may have checked in on their 401(k)s at the worst points of the session today and really gulped and got worried, especially people who are close to retirement.” [Fox Business, The Claman Countdown, 3/4/25]
    • Claman later reported, “Trump's trade war caused a dive in the value of the U.S. dollar, which suffered its worst three-day decline since 2022.” Claman said businesses are “fretting about a U.S. trade war with the entire world.” [Fox Business, The Claman Countdown, 3/5/25, 3/5/25]
    • Fox Business host Stuart Varney declared, “We’ve got a trade war.” Varney said, “I think we're taking a gamble here. We’ve got inflation — that's not beaten. The economy is slowing, and we got a trade war. From a market perspective, that’s not good.” [Fox Business, Varney & Co., 3/5/25]
    • While interviewing Howard Lutnick, Fox anchor Sandra Smith referred to Trump’s tariffs as a “trade war” immediately after Lutnick insisted that “this is not a trade war.” After Lutnick said, “This is just a drug war; this is not a trade war,” Smith responded by saying the stock market was “down about 5% or 6% since the highs in February, as we await the outcome of this trade war.” [Fox News, America Reports, 3/5/25]
    • Smith also reported that the stock market was down because “there’s just a lot of uncertainty out there over what’s going to happen next with the trade war.” [Fox News, America Reports, 3/4/25]
    • Fox host Jesse Watters stated, “The trade war’s also officially underway.” Watters noted that “it’s going to be a little bit of a rocky road in the beginning” as Trump targets “our three biggest trading partners … but we expect to win in the end.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 3/4/25]
    • Watters also implored people to be patient “as the market digests these trade wars.” [Fox News, The Five, 3/4/25]
    • Fox News correspondent Aishah Hasnie reported that the Dow was “tanking on fears of a recession and trade war.” During the segment, a chyron read “Dow plunges on fears trade war will hurt growth.” [Fox News, America Reports, 3/10/25]
    • Radio host Hugh Hewitt said on America’s Newsroom, “I don’t think Canada can beat the United States in a trade war no matter how much electricity they send to New York.” Hewitt said, “If you punch him [Trump], he punches back hard,” so Ontario Premier Doug Ford “might want to find a way to back out of the room quietly and quickly.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 3/11/25]
    • Fox anchor John Roberts said, “It could be that there’s a little bit of a trade war brewing between the United States and Canada.” [Fox News, America Reports, 3/4/25]
    • Newsmax host Rob Schmitt reported, “Trump's commerce secretary says this trade war will likely be over before it really even begins.” Schmitt also noted that “tariffs are freaking out Wall Street.” [Newsmax, Rob Schmitt Tonight, 3/4/25]
    • Infowars’ Alex Jones referenced “the big Trump trade wars.” [Alex Jones Network, Infowars, 3/4/25]
    • Newsmax correspondent Sarah Williamson reported, “The trade war that is centering around these tariffs is certainly heating up.” [Newsmax, The Record with Greta Van Susteren, 3/5/25]
    • One America News’ Pearson Sharp predicted that China is “probably prepared to go higher” on reciprocal tariffs in response to “the trade war.” Sharp also said China “didn’t think this was about fentanyl. They thought this was about the trade deficit, and they thought that maybe these things should be separate issues, and we should work on the trade deficit and not use the fentanyl as — what they said — an excuse to address it.” [One America News, The Matt Gaetz Show, 3/5/25]
    • A reporter on One America News referred to “the mounting trade war.” [One America News, OAN News, 3/5/25]
    • A One America News correspondent said shipments to China from various countries “could surge as a trade war hots up.” [One America News, OAN News, 3/5/25]