In support of the President’s tariff plans, the White House posted a fact sheet on “The Staggering Cost of the Illicit Opioid Epidemic in the United States,” noting that in 2023 alone, fentanyl and other illicit opioids (“which typically originate in China and are trafficked through Mexico”) cost Americans an estimated $2.7 trillion through a loss of labor force productivity, healthcare costs, and crime-related costs. The fact sheet says this figure “dwarfs even pessimistic estimates of the effects of tariffs, like that of Goldman Sachs, who estimated losses of 0.4 percent of GDP.”
