China and US Deal to Clamp Down Firms exporting Fentanyl

Photo Courtesy: Office of the President of the United States

In an attempt to ease increasing tensions between their respective countries last Wednesday, President Joe Biden and President Xi Jinping spoke in California during the Chinese president’s first visit to America since 2017. The White House has deemed the talks successful, particularly in regard to fentanyl and opioid exportation laws, a topic that has been a focus of the Biden administration. 

Throughout Biden’s presidency, his government has attempted to combat the increasing opioid crisis, which has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans in the last two decades. In September 2022, he pledged $1.5 billion to fighting the crisis and another $450 million a year later. In March 2023, he issued a joint statement with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledging co-operative work in stemming the production and distribution of opioids. In an ever-updating list of governmental action, the White House continually publishes its attempts to disrupt global supply chains, increase border security, use detection technology, launch global coalitions, and more. 

However, the majority of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids are imported from China, which the US has struggled to control. A 2019 Chinese law limited the sale of opioids in their processed form, but Beijing’s refusal to limit the export of precursor chemicals, in response to the US’s refusal to lift certain Trump-era sanctions, only caused the manufacturing of opioids to move to Mexico. Notably, however, the law was passed during the so-called US-China trade war, an ongoing commercial conflict employing punitive tariffs, protectionist market policies, and limits on foreign investment. The new agreement, if successful, may be considered a turning point in this economic cold war.

While the meeting did yield another important agreement, the restoration of a direct line of communication between Biden and Xi Jinping, little else came out of it. Neither side made any concessions over China’s potential invasion of Taiwan and the States’ armament of the region, nor did Xi Jinping agree to help Biden mitigate the threat of a nuclear Iran. Biden refused to lower restrictions on the export of technology that could be used militarily, and they agreed to address artificial intelligence in later talks. Especially as Biden called his counterpart a “dictator” to press after the meeting, any tangible de-escalation is yet to be seen. 

In a time when the US and China have diminishing common ground, the deal marks a major connection between the two governments on an issue where the leaders have agreed their interests coincide. If successful, Biden can claim credit for slowing the leading cause of death for Americans between 18-45, and with Republicans using the increase in fentanyl overdoses as part of their election campaign, it could give Biden a much needed push in the polls.