Trump levies tariffs on China over opioid crisis

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00:00Donald Trump said that the most beautiful word in the dictionary was tariff, and acted

00:06accordingly.

00:07The White House has confirmed a 10% tax on China, sparking fears of a global trade war.

00:15In the end, it's the ordinary people who suffer from these tariffs and these trade barriers.

00:20I think that in every respect, cooperation is preferable to competition.

00:25Donald Trump has also imposed 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, accusing them of failing

00:32to stop the flow of the deadly drug fentanyl into the country.

00:36According to Trump, the role of China is one of a supplier, exporting active ingredients

00:42to Mexican cartels that then manufacture the deadly drug, sold on the other side of the

00:47border.

00:49China plays the central role in the fentanyl crisis that's destroying American lives.

00:53In fact, the Chinese Communist Party has subsidized Chinese chemical companies to

00:57export fentanyl.

00:58China not only fails to stem the source of illicit drugs, but actively helps this business.

01:04Beijing has denied its complicity in the trade, citing numerous steps to prevent illegal production

01:10and trafficking.

01:11Over the past decade, more than 400,000 Americans have died of synthetic opioid use, making

01:18the US the country with the highest overdose rate in the world.

01:22But analysts say that Trump's tariffs would do little to solve the opioid crisis.

01:27The US president could, however, use them as a tool to pressure global economies to

01:33comply with his wishes.

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