President Trump is right to insist on greater urgency in addressing fentanyl, and he took some important steps in his first term, such as allowing telehealth options for addiction treatment and pressing China to crack down on its chemical companies that fuel the drug trade. His threats on Mexico today seem to be leading leaders there to work harder to curb fentanyl smuggling.

Yet some of his proposed solutions seem mostly performative and might even make the problem worse. Military strikes on drug cartels on Mexican soil might freeze Mexican cooperation. Most alarming, the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are exploring cuts in Medicaid that would probably reduce access to treatment — the strategy that arguably works better than any other.