U.S. President Donald Trump has slapped new tariffs on Chinese goods, partly in response to Beijing's alleged role in a deadly opioid epidemic in the United States.
Washington has long accused Beijing of turning a blind eye to the deadly fentanyl trade, which US authorities estimate caused tens of thousands of deaths a year. China denies responsibility.
Here AFP looks at where the issue currently stands:
What is fentanyl and where does it come from?
The United States is facing an epidemic of deaths caused by fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful than heroin and much easier and cheaper to produce.
U.S. officials have said it is now the leading cause of death among people aged 18 to 45.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has accused China of being "the main source for all fentanyl-related substances trafficked into the United States".
While the Congressional Research Service acknowledged last year that direct supplies of the drug from China had been stemmed by stricter controls from Beijing in 2019, it said the move had simply shifted the supply lines.
Rather than the drugs being supplied directly via international courier services, it said, chemical components are instead shipped from China to Mexico, where they are then made into fentanyl and smuggled across the border.
Many of those components are legal in China and have legitimate medical use as painkillers -- making prosecution tricky.
Beijing, which insisted there is "no such thing as illegal trafficking of fentanyl between China and Mexico", has promised to crack down.
It has pointed to its tough drug laws -- some of the world's harshest -- and warned that new tariffs would "inevitably affect and damage future bilateral cooperation on drug control".
What has the U.S. done to crack down?
Former president Joe Biden's administration made the fight against fentanyl a priority.
In October 2023, it slapped sanctions on over two dozen China-based entities and individuals alleged to be the "source of supply" for many U.S.-based narcotics traffickers, dark web vendors, virtual currency money launderers and Mexican cartels.
The group, which included a Wuhan-based company and a number of other firms based in Hong Kong and the mainland, was alleged to be responsible for the shipment of approximately 900 kilograms of "seized fentanyl and methamphetamine precursors" shipped to the United States and Mexico.
"The global fentanyl supply chain, which ends with the deaths of Americans, often starts with chemical companies in China," the then U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said last year.
China condemned the investigation at the time as part of a U.S. campaign of "pressure and sanctions" against it.
What have the U.S. and China agreed to?
China-U.S. talks on drug control stalled in the face of some of their worst relations in years.
But following a summit between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco in November 2023, Washington and Beijing agreed to restart talks.
Last summer, a counternarcotics working group convened in Washington and China announced it would step up its regulation of three key fentanyl precursors.
But it remains to be seen whether the latest curbs will fully stop the cross-border traffickers -- who the Justice Department said "adapt to tightening restrictions".
Analysts say that manufacturers are able to develop new variants of the synthetic precursors faster than they can be identified and added to scheduled lists of substances controlled by Chinese authorities.
Vanda Felbab-Brown, an expert on organised crime at the Brookings Institution, had said Beijing needs to take a tougher line against domestic firms involved in the trade.
"We are nowhere close to robust indictments, robust prosecutions in either the money laundering sector or smuggling of precursors to the Mexican cartels," she said in a podcast.
Will the tariffs work?
Whether tariffs will spur greater action from Beijing is unclear.
Felbab-Brown argued that Beijing's cooperation is tied to China-U.S. relations.
"With countries with whom China has good relations or with whom it wants to build good relations... it extends law enforcement and counter-narcotics cooperation," she explained. "And with countries with whom it has bad relations or with whom relations deteriorate, it denies the cooperation."
China's foreign ministry has warned that Washington should "not take China's goodwill for granted".
Compounding the problem are expansive money laundering networks that underpin the trade, which experts say requires closer coordination between Washington and Beijing to curb.
"International drug cartels are increasingly turning to specialized Chinese criminal gangs for swift, cheap and secure money laundering services," wrote Zongyuan Zoe Liu in a September report for the Council on Foreign Relations.
"Obtaining support from Beijing to stop the flow of illicit fentanyl and its precursor chemicals is an important first step in addressing the supply problem," Liu wrote.
© 2025 AFP
40 Comments
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Blacklabel
Oh now just because Trump said it, a previously accepted fact is reverted back to “allegedly”?
patkim
I do agree that China and other countries where drug-related substances come from bear a responsibility to crack down on gangs who produce and distribute drugs. However, I don't think a trade war is the way to go. If anything, it will make a country like China not want to cooperate. Also, there should be more done to properly educate teens, children, and the public in general about the facts of this substance and all drugs, as well as the effect it can have on your body. If there is no demand, there will be no business. Even if you have to explicitly and graphically show what happens to you when you do drugs, then so be it.
Wasabi
Was it an "previously accepted fact"? Prove it.
Blacklabel
Joe Biden sanctioned China for it.
and none of you criticized him for doing so or questioned it as “alleged”.
bass4funk
Bingo!
Tokyo Guy
China wouldn't be doing it if there wasn't a willing market of pathetic junkies willing to use the stuff.
Maybe we should be educating people on the perils of drugs.
lincolnman
More like "nah, nah, nah"...in terms if him keeping his promises to you...and all the other MAGA little guys...
Because as you've admitted, you can't trust anything that comes out of Trump's mouth...like the COVID vaccine is "safe and it works" - you and Bass have already said multiple times that was a bold-faced lie...
wallace
Fentanyl is the most dangerous drug on the streets. Over 96,700 people die from drug overdoses in a year. Opioids are a factor in 7 out of every 10 overdose deaths. Drug overdoses have killed almost a million people since 1999. The U.S. has the highest rate of overdose deaths in the world, followed by Puerto Rico.
China is responsible but fentanyl is also produced in India.
https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2020-03/DEA_GOV_DIR-008-20%20Fentanyl%20Flow%20in%20the%20United%20States_0.pdf
Mocheake
Without demand there is no need for supply in this case. Americans need to stop blaming other countries for the constant drug epidemics and look at the real problems: Lax laws that tolerate legal and illegal drug abuse and a population that thinks using recreational drugs is cool. Also, the medical industry makes tons with their legal drugs and prescriptions are readily available to almost anyone. If it isn't LSD, it's angel dust or heroin or cocaine or crack or ecstasy or fentanyl. It never ends in the U.S. The next new drug(s) of choice is just around the corner. One of the things I do like about Japan, and places like Singapore and Malaysia is they do not tolerate casual drug use and the penalty is high, as it ought to be. There's a lesson there for America but no one is paying attention.
Blacklabel
oh so it’s not “alleged”, they are doing it.
I see.
Tokyo Guy
oh so it’s not “alleged”, they are doing it.
Oh yeah, I heard some guy on Twitter who said that Musk is personally overseeing it, cutting it with ketamine, and giving it away free with every Tesla sold.
And nobody ever lies on Twitter, according to the right.
wallace
China is not producing fentanyl. Gangs in China are producing it. The Chinese government needs to crack down on it with severe punishments for those involved.
Blacklabel
gangs of Chinese citizens, in China?
lincolnman
States with highest per-capita drug overdose death rates;
West Virginia - RED
District Of Columbia - Blue
Tennessee - RED
Delaware - Blue
Louisiana - RED
And the winner of the No. 1 spot and overall winner (loser?) 3-2 is Team Red...
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/drug_poisoning_mortality/drug_poisoning.htm
Moderator
Readers, please stop bickering. If you have already posted on this thread, please take a break for awhile.
Blacklabel
so who is in support of Trump’s plan to execute drug dealers (not pardon them like Joe did)?
nickybutt
There are 257 drug deaths every day in America. The greatest country in world?
Plenty of people are choosing drugs as opposed life in America. Life must be pretty dam bad!
mikeylikesit
“Allegedly.”
For the past three decades since Clinton granted China “most-favored nation” trading status and shepherded China into the WTO, China has engaged in essentially the same pattern of industrial espionage and societal subversion that the British East India Company inflicted on China in the 19th century. Yesterday’s opium is today’s fentanyl. For China, this is revenge for the century of humiliation.
China has gotten away with this partly because the U.S. government has allowed unlimited shipment of de minimus packages to the U.S., to the tune of nearly a billion packages a year, most from China, Canada, and Mexico, with zero customs declaration requirements.
This is the really significant part of Trump’s move. Every package from China, Canada, and Mexico will now be subject to customs inspection. The open door for fentanyl is closing.
Sh1mon M4sada
I wish Trump all the luck in the world. But, I don't think America's politics appreciate the fact all the precursors are totally legal and employed in many industries. Fentanyl is a simple synthetic that can be made and distributed anywhere, not like cocain that requires agriculture + refining + distribution.
Even if successful at reducing deaths, manufacturing, health, law enforcements, customs and border protection are all affected.
Until there's bipartisan support or will to severely punish uncooperative nations, it's an uphill battle.
iraira
If China is producing the drug, why are their imports being tariffed only 10% while many things from Canada and Mexico are at 25%? Why not make things more difficult for the producer in numerous other ways than tariffs and which do not involve souring relations with our neighbors?
Mocheake
I definitely support tougher penalties, including the death penalty, for the more heinous violations and not just on drug dealers from outside the country. The ones inside and the users need punishing too. More stringent measures are needed all the way around.
BB
You mean like Ross Ulbricht? Oh wait, Trump pardoned him....
deanzaZZR
That is a very colorful argument. To make your argument work I must ask, where are the Chinese warships. Certainly they are plying the waters of San Diego and Tijuana.
nishikat
That is quite short sighted and the US should make government health insurance for all and regulate it like they do in the rest of the world. It is the fault of the Trump party for not expanding government healthcare in red states
US has highest rate of drug overdoses, study says
The United States has more than double the rate of premature overdose deaths of at least 12 other countries, according to a new study.
(NIH website)
Japan has full government healthcare (they don't execute drug dealers here and drug dealers get less prison time compared to US based drug dealers) and Japan does not have such a problem.
The is proof that Trump care is bad and ObamaCare is good.
Japan isn't and they don't have such a problem. It would be bad policy. I am in 100% support of regulated government healthcare like Japan.
Tokyo Guy
You mean like Ross Ulbricht? Oh wait, Trump pardoned him....
Waiting for our MAGA reps to come back from being told what to say about this.
Blacklabel
“…If you have already posted on this thread, please take a break for awhile.”
That’s you. Are you exempt?
lincolnman
They already have several days ago - typical ultra-MAGA-spin and denial of reality...mixed with a little whataboutism...
Basically just like everything else, they FLIP-FLOP....
Blacklabel
And no unlike the people Biden pardoned who were, Ross Ulbricht was not a “drug dealer”.
Bob Fosse
“Just say no”
Bob Fosse
(posts twice after)
Tokyo Guy
That’s you. Are you exempt?
Asks the guy who's posted seven times on the thread, i.e. almost one quarter of the comments are yours.
I know that self-awareness and mathematics aren't exactly MAGA's strong suit, but...
Blacklabel
(was abiding by the rules until “called out” by someone breaking them)
Tokyo Guy
For the benefit of those claiming that Ross Ulbricht is not a "drug dealer":
Ross William Ulbricht (/ˈʊlbrɪkt/; born March 27, 1984)[1] is an American who created and operated the darknet market Silk Road from 2011 until his arrest in 2013. Silk Road was an online marketplace that facilitated the trade in narcotics and other illegal products and services
"Narcotics are psychoactive compounds that can cause numbing or paralyzing effects. In the United States, the term is often used to refer to opiates and opioids, such as heroin and morphine".
Blacklabel
Mod, come get your boys.
Bob Fosse
such a wueen
Tokyo Guy
(was abiding by the rules until “called out” by someone breaking them)
You posted four times before the mod's request / warning and (at the time of writing this) five times after. Heck, the very first post after the mod's request / warning was yours. You are really shooting yourself in the foot here.
Just to check - you do understand that we can see your posts and count them, thereby deducing that your accusations of "posting excessively" are in fact utterly lacking in self reflection?
You really are devastatingly thick.
buchailldana
America has had a drug problem way before fentanyl or Chinese production.
Just smoke and mirrors while Trump and the maga gang asset strip the country
Blacklabel
So we have 2 guys who disappeared for 2 months after the election in shame obsessively whining daily.
plus whatever username 404 error guy was pre-election who seem to be unable to follow basic instructions.
that’s on you. This you after being asked not to?
Yep. That’s you.
nishikat
Trump people think that all (100%) of J6 people were good people
David Daniel was pardoned for his conviction from the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack was also arrested last fall on child pornography charges.
(news source and someone Trump people think is a good person)
Blacklabel
Check the timestamps.
wrong, again.