DETROIT — The flow of dangerous drugs across the U.S.-Canadian border, especially fentanyl, has become a focal point in the trade war between the two countries, though officials disagree about whether more drugs are flowing from Canada or from the United States.

Earlier this spring, a high-intensity, monthlong crackdown by Canadian border authorities, dubbed Operation Blizzard, found that more than two-thirds of all of the illegal drugs, including fentanyl, seized were heading into Canada from the United States, according to Canadian officials. Less than 20% was flowing from Canada into the United States.

"Based on evidence, based on statistics, we do not see ourselves as a significant exporter of fentanyl," said Daniel Anson, director general of the Canada Border Service Agency's Intelligence and Investigations division. "This confirms it, but it also confirms that we continue to have work to do, because zero will always be the goal."

The stated mission of Operation Blizzard was to "intercept fentanyl and other illegal drugs in postal, air cargo and marine containers," the Canada border agency said.

But Michigan state Sen. Jim Runestad, chair of the state's Republican Party, said the results of Operation Blizzard prove nothing because the blitz was not focused on the most notable method of conveying the contraband.

The No. 1 method of transport for drugs over the U.S.-Canada border, Runestad said, "is land border crossings at land ports of entry, followed by small aircraft, usually private planes flown from remote or poorly monitored areas."

Data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows it stopped 43 pounds of fentanyl from entering the U.S. from Canada during the last fiscal year, while the Canadian border officials said they have seized around 14 pounds of fentanyl headed in from the United States.

A potentially lethal dose of fentanyl for an average American is 2 milligrams, which is an amount small enough to fit on the tip of a pencil. Anson noted that most land-based movement of narcotics involves cocaine instead of the far deadlier fentanyl.

President Donald Trump has made fentanyl a central issue in America's on-and-off trade war with Canada, allowing him to use emergency powers to raise taxes on certain Canadian imports. He contends that Canada hasn't done enough to stop the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. The powerful synthetic opioid was responsible for about 70% of the more than 107,000 overdose deaths in the U.S. last year, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

During fiscal year 2025 through April, the Canada agency reported seizing just over 14 pounds of fentanyl coming from the United States, while U.S. Border Patrol said it confiscated 26 pounds of the drug at the northern border.

In terms of the volume of overall drug seizures at the northern border, those by Canadian authorities outpace those by U.S. agents. For fiscal year 2024, Canadian border officials seized more than 164,000 pounds of illegal drugs there, more than 10 times the 11,600 pounds of drugs seized by the U.S. Border Patrol, the agencies reported.

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officials declined to comment, referring The Detroit News to its drug seizure statistics webpage.

721-mile border with Canada

Michigan shares a 721-mile border with Canada's province of Ontario, which is primarily water, and there are four border crossings: the Upper Peninsula’s Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge, the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron, the Detroit Windsor Tunnel and the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit.

The Ambassador Bridge connecting Windsor and Detroit is the busiest port in the nation, according to the federal Department of Transportation, with nearly 8,000 commercial trucks crossing each day. Another 6,000 or so every day cross the Blue Water Bridge, connecting Port Huron and Point Edward, Ontario.

Since Michigan has so many border crossings, including two of the nation's busiest ports of entry in Detroit and Port Huron, it's essential that authorities are vigilant about monitoring the U.S. border for drug trafficking, said U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich.

"Fortunately, Canada has been a strong ally in our efforts to address this shared threat, but the threat remains," said Peters, the ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. "I established the Northern Border Mission Center to improve the Department of Homeland Security’s ability to address our border security challenges like drug trafficking, and I’ll keep working to make sure DHS has the resources it needs to carry out this mission.”

Trump said there's a growing fentanyl threat coming from Canada because the 43 pounds confiscated last fiscal year was up from 2 pounds of fentanyl seized in 2023 and 14 pounds in 2022. A White House statement in February said "a recent study recognized Canada’s heightened domestic production of fentanyl, and its growing footprint within international narcotics distribution."

Citing the study and other factors, the president has imposed 25% tariffs on most Canadian and Mexican imports through an emergency powers law, though the U.S. Court of International Trade blocked many of the tariffs late last month.

But U.S. Customs and Border Protection data indicate that the issue of drugs crossing the border is about 500 times larger at the southern border with Mexico compared with the northern border.

"Under President Trump’s leadership, Customs and Border Patrol is executing its mission to stop fentanyl at the border," White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in an email to The Detroit News. "Northern border seizures remain at historic lows because deterrence is working, enforcement is targeted, and coordination with Canadian partners is strong. Smugglers are being met with consistent, strategic pressure.”

Operation Blizzard

In February, Canada's border patrol agency announced Operation Blizzard, described as a "targeted, cross-country initiative aimed at intercepting illegal contraband arriving and leaving Canada."

From Feb. 12 to March 13, the Canadian agency made more than 2,600 seizures of suspected narcotics and precursors across the country. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, fentanyl manufacturers throughout North America generally import precursor or building block compounds or chemicals used to make the drug from companies in China and India and then synthesize them into opioids ready for sale.

During Operation Blizzard, 3.8 pounds of fentanyl were seized, according to Canadian authorities. About 131.7 pounds of other illegal drugs, such as opium, cocaine and meth also were confiscated.

Operation Blizzard included high-profile busts netting millions of dollars' worth of drugs caught at the border, including a massive cocaine seizure at a port of entry in Michigan.

The Canadian border authorities reported that 67.5% of all seizures made during the operation were of illegal narcotics coming to Canada from the U.S., while 17.5% were coming from Canada and bound for the U.S.

Because Operation Blizzard focused on postal, air cargo and marine containers, it missed a key way to move contraband — through land-based ports of entry, the GOP's Runestad said.

"This thing has all the hallmarks of trying to cook the books, trying to manufacture an outcome," Runestad said. "It would be obvious to anyone."

Canada's Anson acknowledged that most drug movement over the border, particularly in Michigan and especially in the Detroit-Windsor area, is via land-based ports of entry.

"You've got the high flow of commercial motor vehicles, trucks going back and forth, massive amounts of trade and commerce," he said. "So that's where bad actors are going to seek to bury their illicit shipments."

In fact, the largest seizure made during Operation Blizzard took place at the Blue Water Bridge, which connects Port Huron to Point Edward, Ontario.

On March 6, Canadian border officers seized about 734 pounds of cocaine, worth about $9 million, from a tractor-trailer authorities said was driven by Ravinderbir Singh, 23, of Brampton, Ontario. Canadian authorities said the suspect was smuggling the drugs into Canada from the United States.

Anson said most land-based narcotics conveyances involve cocaine instead of fentanyl. But another recent bust at a Michigan port of entry shows that the killer drug does at least occasionally make its way to the border.

During one incident in February, Canadian agents at the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel seized 20 fentanyl pills and 23 grams of a substance suspected to be fentanyl from two U.S. citizens attempting to enter Canada.

Anson declined to directly speak about how Operation Blizzard's results could affect the trade war. The monthlong blitz was not in response to Trump's tariff threats, either to show him Canada is serious about curbing the international drug trade or to minimize the issue in his country, he said.

"It's really important that we're focused on these things independent of external pressures," Anson said.

He said the crackdown was a success because it gave law enforcement on both sides of the border new insight into drug trafficking patterns and improved their future targeting.

'The U.S. is a transshipment point'

Canadian officials said the vast majority of the large-volume shipments of drugs that reach their country are coming from Mexico, just like in the U.S.

"Cocaine is not produced in the United States; it's transshipped. It comes through Mexico, through land ports of entry typically, and it's been sourced from Central and South America," Anson said. "The U.S. is a transshipment point. ... You might see transshipment or reshipment of fentanyl as well.

"The high, high production areas are in Mexico," he said.

In a March 3 statement regarding his tariff program, Trump claimed there is a growing number of Mexican cartels operating fentanyl and nitazene labs in Canada. Nitazene is another type of synthetic opioid.

Canadian officials said it's difficult to estimate the amount of fentanyl produced in their country. However, the nation's Public Safety department, which oversees the border agency, has said most fentanyl production in the country comes from "super labs" capable of producing more than 5 kilograms (11 pounds) of finished product per batch. According to the Food and Drug Administration, that would make each batch worth up to $5 million in the United States.

Some Republican lawmakers in Michigan said even relatively low fentanyl imports from the north are worrisome.

“While much attention is paid to the flow of illicit fentanyl at our southern border, fentanyl is also a significant concern at our northern ports of entry," said U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, a Michigan Republican who is a member of the Northern Border Security Caucus. "Last year, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized enough fentanyl at the northern border to kill 9.5 million Americans. ... We must work to tackle this illicit drug trafficking from Canada into the U.S. to protect the health and safety of the American people.”

More money for border security

Operation Blizzard was announced just months after the Canadian government set aside an additional $1.3 billion Canadian ($950 million U.S.) toward border security efforts, with most of the money going to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police ($488 million U.S.) and the CBSA (nearly $260 million U.S.). Along with human trafficking, drug smuggling was identified as the top objective.

The multifaceted border plan launched another new initiative, the Canadian Drug Profiling Centre, which Public Safety Canada said will support 2,000 drug investigations per year and expand capacity at regional labs. The center will focus on analyzing narcotics samples seized by law enforcement, according to a Canadian Affairs report.

The country also created a new federal job, the fentanyl czar. In filling that role, Kevin Brosseau, a former deputy commissioner with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, is tasked with working alongside U.S. counterparts and law enforcement agencies to accelerate Canada’s battle against the drug.

“Canada is taking significant action to stop the importation, production and trafficking of illegal fentanyl," Brosseau said in a statement.

U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., said stopping the flow of fentanyl in both directions may ultimately come down to how well the U.S. and Canada can work together.

“Fentanyl is causing profound tragedy, pain and heartache that cuts across every community in Michigan,” Slotkin said. “To truly put a dent in this crisis, we need both parties to work together in Congress, as I have, and we need to work hand in hand with our neighbors in Canada."

Slotkin said she's had conversations with Customs and Border Protection in Michigan, including on a recent trip to Port Huron.

"They say the same thing. It takes resources, yes, but also good relationships and seamless cooperation to stop the cross-border flow of fentanyl, and we cannot take our eye off the ball," she said in a statement. "There are lives at stake.”

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