Trump policies could fuel illicit drug trade despite vow to curb fentanyl

Source: The Guardian

Date of Publication: 8th March 2025

This topic sentence shows structural bias, as it immediately portrays Trump’s policies as negative. This is done before the article introduces any of Trump’s policies.

The contrast with the previous line is evident in the phrase ‘even as the administration vowed to stop fentanyl,’ this implies that Trump is hypocritical because it suggests that his policies contradict his beliefs.

Enrique Roig, Jim Crotty, and Ram Ben Tzion all argue against Trump’s policies, meaning the Guardian only provides a one-sided perspective. They could have instead cited people from the Trump administration to provide a neutral perspective.

‘Coercive’ tariffs and federal funding cuts could worsen flow of illicit drugs into US, ex-government officials warn

The phrase ‘could leave the US more vulnerable,’ assumes that Trump’s policies have had negative consequences without a cause. However, Trump has said in other statements that he hopes to combat fentanyl trafficking.

Donald Trump’s policies could leave the US more vulnerable to dangerous synthetic drug trafficking from abroad,

even as the administration has vowed to stop fentanyl from entering the country,

former government officials say.

This week, Trump imposed tariffs on  Mexico, Canada  and  China, ostensibly as a tactic to stem the flow of illicit drugs into the US.

This comment is structurally biased as it does not allow room for the possibility that Trump’s policy could have led to the decrease in overdose deaths. Instead, it completely ignores Trump’s effect on the matter.

the former Drug Enforcement Administration deputy chief of staff, called the approach “coercive” and said it has the potential to backfire. Federal funding cuts could also leave US borders more insecure, according to Enrique Roig, a former Department of State official who oversaw Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) portfolios and who has also worked with USAid.

US overdose deaths began to decrease significantly for the first time in 2023, after rising for decades. But Crotty notes this progress is fragile.

“We’re seeing this decrease in overdose deaths and everyone’s still trying to suss out exactly why.

I don’t think now is the time that we want to stop any of those existing efforts because we know that at least some, or a combination of them, have been working,” Crotty said.

The phrase ‘could put the US behind,’ hints at a future where Trump’s policy has led to a negative outcome. This is done without proper confirmation that it will happen. Along with this, no data has been provided to show that funding cuts have weakened the federal government, meaning the prediction is purely hypothetical.

Federal funding cuts could put the US behind when it comes to drug detection technology.

The global drug supply has increasingly shifted towards highly potent synthetic substances such as fentanyl and newly emerging nitazenes. Often, these drugs arrive in the US in the form of powders or precursor chemicals that take up minimal space, and are difficult to detect by odor.

Roig says advanced drug detection technology is therefore vital, but Trump’s federal funding and staff cuts mean less money for the latest technology and equipment, and fewer people to install it.

The phrase ‘more showy than constructive,’ trivializes Trump’s policy and does not provide a neutral evaluation.

Among the victims killed by Russian paratroopers were 52-year-old Tamila
Mishchenko and her 14-year-old daughter, Anna, on March 5. They were among four women fleeing Bucha when Russian soldiers fired on their blue minivan.

Nearly all the victims we identified on Yablunska Street were civilians or Ukrainian P.O.W.s. Killing them could be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court and deemed war crimes under international humanitarian law.

Because of their systematic and widespread nature, the killings in Bucha could also amount to crimes against humanity. Russia has not joined the I.C.C. and is unlikely to cooperate on any potential future cases that involve Russian soldiers.

the CEO of Publican, which provides drug detection technology to government agencies outside the US, says cutting-edge methods detect suspicious shipments even before they get to the border. Publican uses large language models to flag shipments that “don’t make sense” and are likely to contain illicit substances. For example, his company once found fentanyl precursors in a shipment to a residential address in California. The shipment claimed to contain fashion items, but came from a Chinese construction company.

Similarly, the UN Container Control Programme, which has historically received state department funding, helps authorities flag suspicious shipments before they reach their destination. This program has helped authorities around the world seize hundreds of tonnes of illicit drugs each year. Roig says federal funding cuts have stalled CCP’s implementation in Mexico, even though it’s a primary security target for Trump.

Some of Trump’s measures are more showy than they are constructive, Crotty and Roig said. The designation of certain cartels as terrorist organizations “doesn’t do much of anything”.

It’s symbolic, says Crotty, given that they were already designated transnational criminal organizations.

Other measures are a harmful waste of money, according to Roig.

The phrase ‘keep everyone in the dark,’ is over dramatic and implies a complete loss of transparency. It also does not talk about the positive impacts this may have.

Trump’s attack on government data sharing could keep everyone in the dark.

Link: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/08/trump-policies-drug-trade-fentanyl

The phrase ‘while in a vacuum that sounds like a whole lot’ downplays the significance of the gesture, and instead of objectively analyzing the gesture, it immediately moves to undermining its effectiveness.

Jim Crotty

agreed: “All this has to be working together in concert.”

Roig

Ram Ben Tzion,

The article does not specify why it was a ‘harmful waste of money,’ and it also does not compare the costs and benefits.

Just this week, for instance, the administration suspended the use of military planes to deport immigrants, including those accused of drug related crimes, due to the extravagant cost.

Roig says this measure was completely unnecessary, as “Ice already has its own fleet of airplanes” that are much cheaper.

Crotty is concerned the aggression could backfire.

“The Mexican people are protective of their culture and their sovereignty. If you push them too hard, could it do more harm than good?” he said.

Mexico sent 10,000 troops to its US border to cooperate with Trump’s demands, but Crotty says “while in a vacuum that sounds like a whole lot”,

Mexico’s border is vast, and drugs are often transported in “minute quantities”. So, the US needs Mexico’s cooperation when it comes to intelligence – otherwise “you’re not going to find the proverbial needle in the haystack”, Crotty said.

Roig said that “it’s important that we do this in cooperation with Mexico and not alienate them,” adding that Trump’s aggressive stance toward China could harm the Biden administration’s progress negotiating with the Chinese government to cooperate on counternarcotics initiatives.

Massive USAid cuts also threaten programs intended to curb the “root causes” of the drug trade, says Roig. Some USAid-funded programs simultaneously tackled drug smuggling and another one of Trump’s key issues, migration – as cartels that traffic drugs also traffic people.

When Roig worked with USAid, he says he spent a lot of time on “community violence prevention efforts”, including programs to keep young people from joining international crime organizations and cartels. (Notably, the Trump administration has purged many websites describing USAid programs.)

If the drug supply does increase, it could mean US overdoses begin to rise again as well. But Crotty is worried we won’t even know if that happens. Layoffs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could leave fewer people to track overdose deaths, and

“ CDC maintains the overdose death dashboard. A lot of that stuff is data driven. Are they still going to have access to the data?” he said.