Trump must maintain vital fentanyl progress with China

19/12/2024 6:11

While it is important to

keep pressure on China to help further reduce U.S. fentanyl

deaths, the incoming Trump administration must be careful to

maintain the progress President Joe Biden has made with Beijing

on the issue, the head of the White House's drug-control policy

said on Wednesday.



China is the dominant source of chemical precursors used by

Mexican cartels to produce fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that

kills tens of thousands of Americans annually. Trump has vowed

an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods after he takes office

on Jan. 20 to push Beijing to do more to stop fentanyl flows

into the U.S.



Rahul Gupta, White House director of drug-control policy,

said progress had been made with China on fentanyl since Biden

and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met in November 2023 and agreed to

tackle the issue.



Gupta said China had taken offline many websites offering

fentanyl precursors, and made arrests. He said it had also

categorized more than 50 controlled substances since he visited

Beijing in June.



"We are seeing on the ground, for those who are wanting to

make fentanyl and traffic fentanyl, a real difficulty in

obtaining the precursor chemicals," Gupta told Washington's

Center for Strategic and International Studies



He said these steps had contributed to a fall in fentanyl

deaths and progress cannot be allowed to slow down.



"While we work on other aspects in (the) relationship with

China, it's going to be critical that we sustain this progress

... We can work to make China a part of the solution for this

crisis, or they can remain a part of the problem."



Asked about Trump's tariff vow, Gupta said: "There's no harm

in keeping the pressure. What we need to make sure is that the

pressure is kept with a sense of understanding of what is

already happening, and being aware of the progress that's

already been made."



Trump's transition team did not immediately respond to a

request for comment on Gupta's remarks.



On Tuesday, a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers proposed

three bills aimed at cracking down on China's role in the

fentanyl crisis, with measures that would set up a task force to

disrupt trafficking and pave the way for sanctions on Chinese

entities.