A Hint Of Opium Wars: Trump's Campaign Against The Fentanyl Epidemic

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Shift of Focus to Canada

Looking north, at the Canadian border: journalist Sam Cooper recently highlighted in an interview that Canada has become a money-laundering hub for Chinese and Mexican drug cartels over the years.

He refers to the so-called Vancouver model, which in four years facilitated cumulative money laundering from U.S. drug trade exceeding $300 billion. Cooper criticizes the Canadian legislature for failing to effectively deploy the rule of law against these cartels. Moreover, the country has itself become a net producer of fentanyl, with Vancouver as a central hub of activity.

Here too, President Donald Trump is intensifying measures and directly linking a tough trade policy against Canada with the fentanyl crisis. Trump repeatedly hints that parts of Canada – especially the resource-rich province of Alberta – could one day switch sides and possibly become a new U.S. state – a provocation sending a clear message: we know what you are doing. And we will not yield without a fight.

The Enemy in the North

Canada appears in this light as a hostile state to the north of the United States, installed by the British after the lost War of Independence in 1776. Here again are the protagonists of the 19th-century Opium Wars.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/hint-opium-wars-trumps-campaign-against-fentanyl-epidemic