BEIJING — U.S. President Donald Trump threw a curve ball at China by linking the fentanyl issue to his tariffs on imports. The Chinese government is swinging back.
First it issued a report detailing its efforts to control the illegal trade in fentanyl, specifically the ingredients for the opioid that are made in China. Then, the Chinese foreign minister blasted the U.S. for responding to Beijing’s goodwill with tariffs. And this week, Chinese officials expressed their indignation at a rare background briefing with journalists.
“In the spirit of humanity, China assisted the U.S. in various ways,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi told journalists last week in an annual appearance before the media. “The U.S. should not meet good with evil or even impose arbitrary tariffs. No responsible major country should do that.”
Trump cited the fentanyl issue as the reason for imposing a 10% tariff on all Chinese imports in early February, on top of any existing duties. He doubled that to 20% earlier this month. He also has cited fentanyl, along with other reasons, for imposing tariffs on Canada and Mexico.
What Trump is saying
In his executive order on the first 10% tariff, Trump accused China of subsidizing chemical companies to export fentanyl and related “precursor chemicals” and of providing a safe haven for Chinese criminal organizations that launder the revenues from the opioid trade.
It’s not unusual for the Chinese government to subsidize industries, and the precursor chemicals are also used to make legal painkillers. But some of the production finds it way to Mexican drug cartels who make fentanyl and send it to the United States.
“Despite multiple attempts to resolve this crisis at its root source through bilateral dialogue, PRC officials have failed to follow through with the decisive actions needed to stem the flow of precursor chemicals to known criminal cartels,” the statement said, referring to China by the acronym for the People’s Republic of China, its official name.
China’s response
The Chinese government hit back both times Trump imposed tariffs with its own duties on selected U.S. products and other measures aimed at American companies. Analysts have described the response as a measured one designed to try to avoid an escalation of the trade war, which could deal a blow to an already sluggish Chinese economy.
The government’s report on its fentanyl-related actions said that China and the U.S. have held multiple high-level meetings since early last year to promote cooperation, and that its Narcotics Control Bureau holds regular exchanges with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.
China is committed to cooperation, the report said, “but firmly opposes the U.S. imposition of unlawful sanctions and unreasonable pressure on China on the pretext of responding to fentanyl-related issues.”
From Biden to Trump
Under former President Joe Biden, cooperation on fentanyl was relaunched in early 2024 after falling victim to geopolitics in 2022. In August of that year, a visit to Taiwan by a top U.S. legislator, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, angered China, and the government responded by cutting off talks on a range of issues including drug control.
A rapprochement in late 2023, negotiated over several months, led to a meeting on fentanyl in January of last year. Drug enforcement, like climate, was held up as an area where the two countries could cooperate despite growing differences and their military, economic and technological competition.
Now Trump, back in the White House after a four-year hiatus, is trying to shift the playing field in the U.S.-China relationship. So far, China has indicated it won’t blink.
“If the American side goes further down this wrong path, we will fight to the end,” Commerce Minister Wang Wentao said last week.
