Ever since US President Donald Trump – just days into his second term – began imposing tariffs on China for its role in the flow of deadly opioids like fentanyl into the United States, Beijing's message has been clear.
The fentanyl crisis is "a US problem," Chinese officials have repeatedly stated, and China has already done "a remarkable job" in addressing the issue.
“We are ready for practical cooperation with the US, based on equality and mutual respect. However, we firmly oppose the US’s pressure, threats and blackmail against China under the pretext of the fentanyl issue,” a spokesman said in March, after Trump’s fentanyl tariffs were increased to 20% on all Chinese imports to the US.
But while those tariffs remain in place months later, and despite a truce that led to other tariff cuts, Beijing is signaling that it is paying attention to the issue — and that it may be willing to do more.
Late last month, China announced it would add two more fentanyl compounds to its list of controlled substances — a much-anticipated step that brought it into line with international regulations, which its diplomats presented as evidence of “active participation” in global drug control.
A few days ago, Chinese authorities also expanded controls on another class of drugs known as nitazoxanides — powerful synthetic opioids that have raised alarm among health officials around the world. That same day, Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong told the US ambassador to China, David Perdue, that Beijing was open to strengthening “practical cooperation” on drug control.
The Trump administration blames China for “supporting” the entry of fentanyl into the United States, a synthetic, lab-made opioid dozens of times more potent than heroin. Abuse of the drug and its analogues has fueled an overdose crisis in the United States, killing tens of thousands of Americans each year, although those numbers fell significantly last year.
From Beijing’s perspective, it has gone beyond international standards to stop the flow of drugs and their ingredients from its vast pharmaceutical sector. In 2019, Beijing classified fentanyl as a class of drugs — a significant step that drastically reduced the flow of finished drugs directly from China to the United States, according to experts and American officials.
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