On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Inside Politics,” CNN host and Washington Post columnist Fareed Zakaria stated that Mexico has been willing to talk about fentanyl and there could have been conversations with them without a tariff threat.
Host Dana Bash said, “[L]et’s just take what we’re seeing right now with the Mexican tariffs…just the threat allowed for a conversation that, at least, delayed that for a month. Who knows what’s going to happen by the day’s end with Canada.”
Zakaria responded, “Right. And you could have had a conversation with the Mexicans easily without the threat. The idea that the Mexicans have not been willing to talk about fentanyl is absurd.”
Zakaria then turned to the Canada tariffs, which hadn’t been paused yet at the time of the segment, and stated, “And with the Canadians, Canada represents less than half a percent of all the fentanyl that comes into the United States, Canada represents 5% of all the undocumented migrants that come into the United States. So, the argument for the tariffs on Canada are, frankly, totally bizarre. But, again, it’s the performance. This is all, if you think about it, it’s all about signaling that there’s a big, bad sheriff in town.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
Read the full article here
