American and Chinese officials met on Tuesday to discuss joint efforts to stem the flow of fentanyl into the US, a sign of cooperation as the two global powers try to manage their contentious ties. The two-day meeting was the first for a new counternarcotics working group. One focus of the talks was fentanyl, the synthetic opioid that is ravaging the US, and in particular ingredients for the drug that are made in China. The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, agreed to restart cooperation in a handful of areas, including drug…
Tag: Drugs trade
Biden and Xi to announce deal cracking down on fentanyl export
Joe Biden and Xi Jinping are set to announce an agreement for China to crack down on the manufacture and export of fentanyl, the primary culprit in a synthetic drug epidemic blamed as the leading killer of Americans between 18 and 49. Bloomberg reported that under the deal – which the US and Chinese presidents are still finalizing – China would go after chemical companies to halt the flow of fentanyl and the source material used to make it. In return, Biden’s White House would lift restrictions on China’s forensic…
Opioid crisis: US and China at odds over influx of fentanyl
Who is responsible for the United States’ opioid epidemic? According to the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, the culprits are “transnational criminal enterprises” who need to be tackled via international law enforcement operations. But according to Chinese state media, “the fentanyl crisis in the United States is demand-driven”, primarily by “the users themselves”. Blinken was speaking at the launch of a US-led coalition to address synthetic drug threats, which gathered virtually last week. China, which many US lawmakers blame for the crisis, declined to participate. As a string of…
Drug agency chief calls on China and Mexico to help stem US fentanyl crisis
Drug Enforcement Administration administrator Anne Milgram has called for further cooperation from China and Mexico in the fight against the US’s fentanyl crisis. In an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press host Chuck Todd on Sunday, Milgram said that despite the DEA standing “ready to work with anyone who will work with us”, the US has “not had the cooperation that we want to have” from China, adding that the Mexican government also “needs to do more”. With the US battling a worsening fentanyl crisis, since at least 2019 the…
US charges Chinese individuals and firms over fentanyl chemical trafficking
The US justice department has filed criminal charges against four Chinese chemical manufacturing companies and eight individuals over allegations they illegally trafficked the chemicals used to make fentanyl, a highly addictive painkiller that has fueled the opioid crisis in the United States. It is the first time the United States has charged Chinese companies for trafficking fentanyl precursor chemicals inside the United States, rather than shipping them to Mexico, the origin of most of the fentanyl found in the country. “These companies and their employees knowingly conspired to manufacture deadly…
US sanctions Chinese drugmakers amid addiction epidemic
The US has imposed sanctions on Chinese painkiller makers – including one man described as the biggest producer of anabolic steroids in the world – as it vowed to step up action to curb the addiction epidemic that killed a record 100,000 Americans last year. With people who are dealing with addiction increasingly turning to cheaper pills bought online from abroad, Joe Biden signed an executive order that makes it easier for the US to target foreign drug traffickers. The actions “will help disrupt the global supply chain and the…