Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) contended that President Donald Trump’s newly announced tariffs are meant to change how countries, such as China and Mexico, treat the United States, and that they will not be permanent so long as this change is enacted. 

Trump signed three executive orders implementing wide-ranging tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China on Saturday, prompting the first two countries to order their own retaliatory tariffs against the U.S., with China set to take legal action with the World Trade Organization. Some lawmakers, including Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), have warned that this tariff battle will only raise the cost of living on U.S. residents, though Graham suggested these tariffs are meant to battle the nation’s fentanyl crisis, blaming China and Mexico for how “3,000 Americans die every two weeks” from fentanyl drugs smuggled across the border.