Fentanyl Rises Again, This Time as Trump’s Diplomatic Weapon Against China

At the heart of President-elect Donald J. Trump’s threat on Monday to slap China with new tariffs is a bitterly recurring issue: the flow into the United States of the potent opioid fentanyl, created using chemicals made in China.

But cooperation on fentanyl — to some degree, at least — between the countries has already been happening, making it one of the few issues left that the two superpower rivals have been able to make progress on.

In September, Chinese officials expanded the list of so-called precursor chemicals used in making the drug, imposing more oversight. The move was the result of renewed bilateral talks on narcotics that started after President Biden and China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, met in Woodside, Calif., a year ago.

It was a rare instance of cooperation from China, which has otherwise stonewalled the United States on issues including nuclear arms control, support for Russia and human rights. China is the main source of chemicals used to make fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that kills tens of thousands of Americans a year. Much of the flow into the United States is from drug cartels in Mexico who mix the precursors and smuggle the finished product across the border.

Despite the recent momentum, experts have warned that much still needed to be done. Chinese producers of fentanyl ingredients, which are also used to produce legal pharmaceutical drugs, can circumvent laws by developing new uncontrolled precursor chemicals. Experts at the Council on Foreign Relations say that Chinese and U.S. law enforcement officials need to work together more closely, and that China needs to provide the United States with more support in anti-money laundering efforts to block the flow of illicit money funding the trade.

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