Is Canada a major source of fentanyl entering the United States?

Fentanyl does cross the northern border, but Canadian seizures are a tiny fraction of the amounts seized at the southwest border.

U.S. border data have shown fentanyl seizures at the Canadian border amount to well under one percent of total border seizures, while the overwhelming majority is seized at the southwest border.

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Fact check: Fentanyl crosses the Canada-U.S. border, but Canada is not a major source compared with the southwest border.

Canada fentanyl U.S. border seizures northern border Mexico tariffs

Some fentanyl does cross from Canada into the United States, but describing Canada as a major source materially exaggerates its scale. U.S. seizure data show the Canadian border accounts for a very small share compared with the southwest border.

Fentanyl trafficking occurs across the northern border, and Canada has a legitimate responsibility to combat it.

The claim treats a real but comparatively small flow as though it were on the same scale as the main U.S. fentanyl supply route. It also often bundles Canada and Mexico together despite radically different volumes.

The claim has been used to frame Canada as a major source of the U.S. fentanyl crisis. That can affect border policy, tariff arguments, policing priorities, and how Canadians understand the actual scale of cross-border drug flows.