White House official cites Edmonton experience, insists tariffs are about drug war, not trade war

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Speaking on American television Monday, a senior U.S. official insisted that U.S. President Donald Trump’s paused plan to impose tariffs on Canadian goods are the product of the drug war, not a trade war, and cited anecdotal evidence from his own visit to Edmonton as proof.

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White House National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett appeared Monday on CNBC before it was announced that Trump is pausing the planned tariffs for 30 days.

He referred to his own experience visiting the Alberta capital as evidence that Canada needs to improve its response to issues around illegal drugs.

“I was in Edmonton last summer, and as I walked out of my hotel, I saw an ambulance responding to someone who had overdosed, sadly, on fentanyl. Then, as I walked to a restaurant, two people got into a fight with cops over drugs — right there in Downtown Edmonton,” Hassett said.

“That was just one day of my visit. The fact is, Canada has a drug crisis, and it’s spilling into the U.S. It needs to stop. That’s what both the Canadian and American people want.”

Skeptics have questioned the true motivation for Trump’s tariffs, pointing to statistics highlighting the relatively small amount of drugs seized at Canada’s border with the U.S.

Figures from U.S. border authorities show that since last September, less than one per cent of the 4,500 pounds of fentanyl seized by authorities in the U.S. was done at that country’s northern border with Canada compared to 98 per cent of that amount being confiscated at America’s southern border with Mexico.

“The people of Canada don’t want to lose the drug war. The people of Mexico don’t either. Now that President Trump has raised this as the Number 1 issue, Canadian and Mexican politicians will have strong public support for taking action,” Hassett said.

“The outcome is likely to be very positive for Americans, Canadians, and Mexicans because President Trump is forcing politicians throughout the continent to take this matter seriously,” he said.

“I don’t understand how somebody can read the executive order if you’re Canada and then claim we’re starting a trade war.”

Trump has also listed other irritants with his country’s northern neighbour including defence spending and on Monday falsely claimed that American banks could not operate in Canada.

U.S. prayer breakfast

While the tariffs remain paused until early March, three Alberta government cabinet ministers remain set to travel to Washington to attend the U.S. National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday.

The premier’s office confirmed earlier this week that Health Minister Adriana LaGrange, Mental Health and Addiction Minister Dan Williams, and Affordability, and Utilities Minister Nathan Neudorf along with three staff members will attend the event.

The premier’s office issued a statement Monday saying the breakfast is a chance to “underscore the importance of Alberta’s energy sector in the pursuit of North American energy dominance.”

Neudorf spoke to reporters Tuesday and echoed that message, saying the event is an opportunity to present Alberta’s side of things in person to U.S. lawmakers.

“Albertans’ best interest would be to make sure that these tariffs never come into realization,” he said.

“Everything I can do to help Alberta’s position in that, I think I should do.”

When asked about who was most responsible for staving off the tariffs for now, he cited the efforts of both Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“A little bit of credit all the way around.”

mblack@postmedia.com