During President Trump’s speech at the Department of Justice on Friday, he discussed a phone call with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum regarding tariffs and drug usage.
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:02We're also joined today by a number of other
00:04American families who have lost loved ones to
00:06fentanyl.
00:07And I'd love you to just stand up for a second, and
00:09we want to acknowledge you.
00:11And also, your daughters, your sons, they're looking
00:15down on you, and they're loving you like crazy.
00:19So, thank you very much.
00:32This department will not rest until we have ended
00:35the fentanyl epidemic in America once and for all
00:38in less than two months, since I took office.
00:40The DEA and FBI have seized nearly 1 million
00:44deadly doses of fentanyl, and that's just the
00:46beginning.
00:47At my direction, and working with Pam and
00:54everybody else, we've launched an all-out war on
00:57fentanyl traffickers.
00:58And it's a war that we're going to win.
01:01We're going to win this war.
01:02I spoke with the President of Mexico.
01:05A very nice woman, very fine woman.
01:07And I said, let me ask you, you're sending a lot
01:09of drugs into our country.
01:11We're not liking it at all.
01:12We can't do that.
01:14But I said, is Mexico — does it have much of a
01:16drug?
01:17She said, no, we're not a consuming nation.
01:18I thought it was an interesting term.
01:21And I said, why?
01:23And — which I've heard also, by the way.
01:26They're not a consuming nation.
01:28They distribute, but they don't consume.
01:30But I said, why are you not a consumer?
01:32Well, we're very close with family.
01:34I said, so we're very close with family, too.
01:36I mean, our families are being devastated, and we're
01:38just as close.
01:39Why else?
01:40She said, well, we spend a lot of money on
01:42advertising saying how bad drugs are.
01:44They're very roughhands.
01:45They show the skin falling off and the teeth
01:48falling out, and going blind, and losing hair,
01:53and everything that these things do that you look
01:56like you just came out of a horrible concentration
01:58camp.
01:59And she said it was — they're roughhands.
02:04And it's not often that I feel I've learned
02:07something from a phone call, because I've been
02:09— I've had a lot of phone calls all of my life.
02:12But I realized, right then and there, what a great
02:14idea that is.
02:15And we have hired, Susie, a great person who did a
02:21lot of our campaign work.
02:22And we've come up with an advertising campaign
02:25that's, I think, really incredible.
02:27More than anything else, it's — it's terrible to
02:31watch.
02:32Terrible to watch.
02:33It's the only way it's going to work.
02:34And I would be — because we got the numbers down.
02:37Eighteen percent would have a blue-ribbon
02:39committee headed by the First Lady of the United
02:42States, who everyone loves, and some of her
02:44friends.
02:45And, you know, it's — they work so hard.
02:48But it was — it's a tough — it's a tough deal.
02:51They're dealing with very smart and very vicious
02:54people.
02:54You know, some of those businesses, those
02:56cartels, are run better than any business in
02:58America.
02:59They say they're run incredibly.
03:00Not just here.
03:01They — all over the world, they're run like a
03:03major business, but in many cases, better.
03:06And I said, we got it 18 percent down.
03:09Well, 18 percent is incredible.
03:11It's like a record.
03:12But when you think of it, it's not very much.
03:15And the way you get it down, if you want to get
03:17it down to close to 100 percent, is with a death
03:19penalty.
03:20But I think maybe America is not ready for that.
03:22China has a death penalty.
03:24Singapore has a death penalty.
03:25Various places have the death penalty.
03:27Wherever you have the death penalty, you don't
03:28have drugs.
03:29But I just don't know if this country is ready for
03:32it.
03:33So I tell people, and it's always an option, but I
03:35don't know.
03:36I just don't know if you're ready for it.
03:38And that's okay.
03:39It's nothing you can do.
03:40But what we're going to do is we're doing this
03:43campaign.
03:44And I think we can get it down 50, 50 percent with
03:47this campaign.
03:48Because when people see all the horrible things
03:50that these drugs do to you, we're especially
03:53focused on fentanyl.
03:55When they see all of the horrible things that
03:57happen when you take drugs, how you look, you
03:59lose your look.
04:00Everyone's vain.
04:01They don't want to lose their look.
04:03The look is so important.
04:04And I think when they see these things, they may
04:08say, you know what?
04:08I'm going to take a pass.
04:10But there is big danger.
04:11Pam and I were talking about it before.
04:13A lot of people are taking fentanyl and not
04:15even knowing.
04:16They think they're doing something else or maybe
04:18taking another drug, but at a much lower level.
04:21And they die.
04:24You can put on the pin.
04:25Think.
04:26Think of this.
04:26The head of a pin, fentanyl.
04:28And it's too much, and it will kill the strongest
04:31person in the room.
04:32And it's amazing.
04:34But we're going to do this campaign.
04:37It's going to be launched fairly soon, Susie.
04:40And I think it's going to have a big impact.
04:42I think if we got it down by another 30, 35 points,
04:46and I really believe we can.
04:48I think that's an incredible idea.
04:50So I thank the President of Mexico.
04:51Actually, it was a call on tariffs, and we talked
04:54about drugs.
04:56And she gave me an idea that I think will be very
04:59successful.
05:00And based on what I saw, it's going to be amazing.