Commercial War: Why does Donald Trump accuse China of contributing to fentanyl traffic?

By imposing – or threatening to do so – strong supplementary tariffs on the products of Canada, Mexico and China, the US president Donald Trump He affirmed that he wants to force them to act to reduce the Fentanyl traffic an opioid responsible for a serious health crisis in the United States.

China, whose products will have a 10%supplementary tariff, is accused of passivity against traffic of fentanyl components, a drug that, according to US authorities, caused More than 70,000 overdose deaths in the United States.

Here, some keys on this drug that became a pretext for the president of the United States to impose protectionist measures that already generate alarm in their commercial partners.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opium 50 times more powerful than heroine And much easier and cheaper to produce. It is the main cause of death among Americans from 18 to 45 years.

American (DEA) drug administration (DEA) states that China is “the main source of chemical substances linked to fentanyl introduced clandestinely in the United States.”

In 2019, China reinforced controls, which allowed to reduce direct traffic to the United States.

But, according to the American Congress Research Service, chemical components are sent to Mexico, where they are transformed into fentanyl and taken to the United States.

Fentanyl chemicals are mostly legal in Chinawhere they are used as analgesics.

China states that there is “no illegal traffic of fentanyl” from its territory to Mexico and promises to strengthen controls.

Joe Biden’s government, Trump’s predecessor, strengthened the fight against fentanil.

In October, the US government He sanctioned dozens of entities and individuals based on China, accusing them of being the “source of supply” of American traffickers, sellers on the Internet and Mexican posters.

That group of entities, formed by companies located in Wuhan, in other places in Continental China and Hong Kong, is accused of having sent some 900 kg of fentanyl and chemical precursors to Mexico and the United States, seized by the authorities.

“Fentanyl world trade, which causes the death of Americans, usually begins in Chinese chemical factories,” said Merrick Garland, at its time attorney general in the United States.

In November 2023 in San Francisco, west of the United States, the presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping promised to reactivate discussions on the subject.

In mid -2024 China announced the increase in controls of three key chemical components of the fentanyl.

But experts believe that traffickers adapt rapidly, creating New variants of chemical substances.

China is not hard enough with the companies involved in this commerce, says Vanda Felbab-Brown, from the American Ideas Laboratory Brookings Institution.

“We are far from true imputations or solid prosecutions due to money laundering or sending precursors to Mexican cartels,” he says.

Trump is determined to adopt a hard line against China, but There are no guarantees that tariffs increase have the desired effect. They could even be counterproductive.

“China expands its cooperation in the application of the law and fight against drug trafficking with the countries with which it maintains good relations,” says Felbab-Brown.

On the other hand, “with the countries with which it maintains bad relations or relations deteriorates reject any cooperation,” he adds.

It is also The money laundering problem.

“International cartels increasingly resort to Chinese bands specialized in fast, cheap and safe money laundering services,” says researcher Zongyuan Zoe Liu in a report published in September by the American group Council on Foreign Relations.

“Obtaining Beijing’s support to stop the flow of illicit fentanyl and its chemical substances is a first crucial step to stop the offer” of traffic, the researcher underlines.