Former President Donald Trump said the United States government must stop China from willfully allowing fentanyl to be sold to Mexican cartels who smuggle it into the U.S., ultimately leading to thousands of American overdoses.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said overdose deaths involving opioids increased from an estimated 70,029 in 2020 to 80,816 in 2021, according to a May 11 news release. Overdose deaths from synthetic opioids like fentanyl, psychostimulants such as methamphetamine and cocaine also continued to increase in 2021 compared to 2020.
“Must immediately meet with China on Fentanyl, and what they are doing in pouring it into the U.S. It is ripping our Country apart, killing 250,000 people a year. CANNOT CONTINUE!”, Trump said Oct. 6 on Truth Social.
The Drug Enforcement Agency details the flow of fentanyl into the United States in 2019.
| Drug Enforcement Agency
Overdose deaths rose 30% from 2019 to 202, with the increase in 2021 half of what it was a year earlier. That increase was still 15%, the CDC reported.
Mexico and China are the primary source countries for fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances trafficked directly into the United States, according to a 2020 Drug Enforcement Agency report titled "Fentanyl Flow to the United States."
China remains the primary source of fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances trafficked through international mail and express consignment operations environment, as well as the main source for all fentanyl-related substances trafficked into the U.S., the DEA reported.
In Mexico, cartels manufacture these drugs in clandestine laboratories with ingredients — precursor chemicals — sourced largely from the People’s Republic of China, according to a Feb. 8 Rand Corporation “Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking” report.
