Trump must maintain vital fentanyl progress with China, White House says

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.