US finds unlikely partner in war vs fentanyl: China
The United States and China have reached an agreement to curb the flow of fentanyl precursors, key ingredients in the production of the drug that kills tens of thousands of Americans each year.
Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel said on November 13 that China has agreed to control seven chemical subsidiaries used to produce the lethal drug, following Beijing’s decision earlier this week to impose export controls on more than a dozen fentanyl precursors.
“The Chinese government agreed on a plan to stop fentanyl precursors,” Patel said at a White House briefing, describing his trip to China last week. “These substances are now banned, and they will no longer be utilised by the Mexican drug trafficking organisations or any other [drug trafficking organisations] around the world to make this drug.”
“Essentially, President Trump has shut off the pipeline that creates fentanyl that kills tens of thousands of Americans,” he added.
Patel arrived in Beijing on November 7 and stayed for about a day, Reuters reported. It was the first visit by an FBI director to China in over a decade, where Patel met his Chinese counterpart to address the issue directly.
In exchange for China’s actions, Washington halved US tariffs from 20 percent to 10 percent on Chinese goods linked to the fentanyl crisis. The synthetic opioid claimed an estimated 48,422 American lives last year, compared with 76,282 in 2023, according to the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
On Monday, China’s Ministry of Commerce said the country would adjust its list of drug-related precursor chemicals and require licences for exports of certain chemicals to the US, Canada and Mexico.
China’s National Narcotics Control Commission also issued a circular calling on exporters to follow international conventions and “laws and regulations of importing countries, especially high-risk countries such as the United States, Canada, and Mexico.” It urged them to ensure overseas customers “fulfil import legal procedures in accordance with their own national laws and regulations.”
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
