Toronto | Canada’s last-minute reprieve from crushing US tariffs came after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled a series of measures aimed at controlling the trafficking of fentanyl, a key reason President Donald Trump has cited for wanting to impose levies.

Fentanyl has flooded North America’s drug supply over the past decade, killing tens of thousands in Canada and the United States, and generating enormous profits for criminal organisations using basic chemistry skills, improvised equipment and home laboratories to produce millions of doses.