Michael Martina
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Continued between the United States and China, amid a painful trade war between the world’s two largest economies, four officials familiar with the discussion told Reuters even as U.S. negotiators claim that the Chinese failed to negotiate in good faith.
The two sides are exchanging information about traffickers and regularly exchange them. People say Beijing’s advice on resolving the crisis so far is not enough, a test of the patience of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has taken a more confrontational stance against China than his predecessor, Joe Biden.
Washington said Chinese chemical manufacturers and exporters provided most of the precursor chemicals used by drug cartels to produce synthetic opioids, which is the cause of nearly 450,000 overdose deaths in the United States. China has long defended its difficult drug laws and records of crackdowns on smugglers and said the United States must address its addiction dilemma.
“Abuse of fentanyl in the United States is a problem that must be faced and resolved by the United States itself,” Liu Pengyu, spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told Reuters.
Four U.S. officials said the Trump administration has had direct conversations with its Chinese counterparts in recent weeks, mainly between the Washington Embassy in Washington and senior staff of the U.S. National Security Council. Staff from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing were also involved.
U.S. officials said Trump negotiators have communicated his desire to act quickly against Chinese authorities and convicted Chinese producers and sellers who are precursors for the fentanyl trade. In turn, China has proposed to regulate chemicals beyond the already controlled fentanyl precursor, which Americans say is far below what they want.
“Talking is cheap,” said a U.S. official.
In response to Reuters’ questions about consultant negotiations, government officials said the U.S. may consider taking other punitive measures to force China to take meaningful actions against fentanyl precursors, including sanctions on Chinese banks. The man said, “There is nothing on the table.”
Last year, Reuters reporters bought 6.6 kilograms of pioneer and pharmaceutical equipment online from Chinese sellers who are part of a multipart investigation into the secret global supply chain of fentanyl, who publicly promote the illegal drug trade. As part of the series, reporters detailed the U.S.-China Business Dialogue during the Byton administration, negotiations failed to compete with Beijing, and previewed a more confrontational approach to the second Trump administration’s plan.
One of Trump’s first moves is now imposing tariffs on a total of 20% of Beijing’s imports from China, while Beijing has failed to stop the flow of fentanyl precursors to drug cartels. Other rounds of tariffs in the presidential trade war have slapped benchmark tariffs of 145% or higher on many Chinese goods, and China warned that it would undermine negotiations with the consultants.
“If (the United States) really wants to solve the fentanyl problem, it needs to remove unreasonable tariffs, conduct equal consultations with China, and seek mutually beneficial cooperation,” said Liu Liu, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy.
In the past, Beijing had paused conversations about drugs when Washington was angry, following a visit to Taiwan’s House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi in 2022. Biden brought these talks back on track and negotiated under Trump.
“Malicious”
Since returning to the White House, Trump has named the opioid crisis one of his major foreign policy priorities. He has designated the drug cartel as a foreign terrorist organization. Some Canadian and Mexican goods were also called by so-called fentanyl tariffs. However, Trump retained special sulfuric acid for China, accusing Beijing of “actively maintaining and expanding business that poisons our citizens.”
Biden’s involvement in Beijing’s measurement has achieved some small wins, but no compelling breakthroughs, something the Trump team believes is a failure. They believe tariffs are a compelling tool for China’s cooperation, despite China’s warnings to the contrary.
After Trump’s initial tariffs on fentanyl, China proposed to arrange two precursor chemicals: 4-dipiperone and 1-boc-4-dipiperone.
U.S. officials say it’s easy for Beijing to make concessions because China already has an obligation to do so.
This is because these chemicals are placed under international control by the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs in 2024. China is a member of the committee, so it is necessary to regulate these predecessors. According to a March report on Chinese government’s efforts to control fentanyl, their work is underway.
Trump negotiators are overwhelmed. The second U.S. official said the Chinese “have to do what they have agreed to, and it is actually negotiating on malicious intentions.”
Beijing has made other recommendations since raising tariffs in recent weeks to arrange more pioneers, U.S. officials say Americans still see insufficient.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
During Trump’s first semester, China did take some steps to limit the synthetic opioid pipeline. At that time, most fentanyl sold on the streets of the United States were made in China. In 2019, Beijing placed fentanyl and its analogues under state control, effectively ending the illegal export of finished products. However, China Chemical Company quickly supplied ingredients to the Mexican cartels that took over the production.
What the Trump team wants now is China to crack down on Chinese chemical manufacturers and sellers to cater to sellers of this illegal trade. Many people sell their goods publicly online. Beijing failed to prioritize such prosecution, despite the evidence and leadership provided by the U.S. side.
“Start to throw important and important people in prison as a signal to the entire industry or the black market,” the first official said. “We just didn’t see it.”
The Biden administration also urges China to ask its chemical department to review customers and better monitor where its exports are going.
But China refuses to worry that too many regulations will hinder the growth of its strong chemical industry. Many chemicals used to make synthetic opioids also have legal uses. Last year, Tsang Wai-Hung, an official with China’s National Narcotics Control Commission, told Reuters that the liability of the importing country, not the Chinese chemical company, investigated rough buyers suspected of buying legal pioneers to produce fentanyl.
Tsang raised questions to the Chinese Ministry of Public Safety, which oversees the National Narcotics Control Commission. The ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
China said last year it closed more than a dozen online platforms and hundreds of stores for internet advertising related to fentanyl and its pioneers.
However, Reuters recently interviewed more than 50 fentanyl users in Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco and Columbus, Ohio, showing that the drug is still rich and cheap.
A third U.S. official warned that Trump could resort to more tariffs if he thought China was delaying.
Chinese Embassy spokesman Liu said his country will not stand by.
“China never accepts power politics or hegemony,” Liu said. “If the United States insists on applying pressure, or even along the ransomware path, China will definitely take a firm countermeasure.”
(Reported by Michael Martina in Washington; other reports by Antoni Slodkowski in Beijing; Edited by Marla Dickerson)
