How many migrants, and how much fentanyl, is actually going from Canada to the U.S.?

Border patrol had 23,721 “encounters” along the Canadian border last year… a sharp increase from 10,021 the year before By comparison, border patrol had 1,530,523 such encounters at the Mexican border last year. U.S. customs agents seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border last year, 0.2% of the total intercepted across the US.

How is this tied to trade?

Mr. Trump has a history of threatening to use tariffs to put pressure on other countries to agree to his demands. …He has also vowed to renegotiate the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement when it comes up for review next year.

Wouldn’t USMCA prevent him from doing this? 

Canada and Mexico could theoretically launch a trade case against the U.S. under the deal if Mr. Trump goes forward with his tariffs. But trade disputes tend to take years to make their way through the system. A more immediate route that Canada and Mexico could try would be imposing retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. Another possibility is a court challenge on the US side.

What would the effect of 25% tariffs be?

While Mr. Trump likes to claim that tariffs are paid by foreign countries, they are actually paid for by people importing the tariffed products into the U.S., with the cost often passed on to consumers.

What is Canada doing?

Canadian officials have been ftrying to build alliances with American politicians and business leaders. More discreetly, some Canadian officials have spent months trying to build ties to Mr. Trump’s inner circle.

[to access the full story a Globe and Mail subscription is required]