While strained U.S.-China relations have halted progress on tackling the fentanyl crisis, Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) said the U.S. must take multi-pronged action by enforcing strong border control policies and addressing China's role in supplying fentanyl precursors to Mexico.
“The fentanyl crisis is killing almost 200 Americans each day and destroying families across the country," Carter told Homeland Newswire. "If China refuses to do the moral thing and save lives by reducing the flow of fentanyl, then the U.S. must do so alone. This means holding China accountable and enforcing strict border control policies so that illicit fentanyl cannot enter our country and poison innocent Americans, along with permanently scheduling this lethal poison so that dealers can be fully prosecuted. Washington, not Beijing, sets the terms of our relationship with China.”
China was praised by the U.S. in 2018 for regulating two commonly used fentanyl precursors that had been bought by Mexican cartels, produced by them, and imported into the U.S. As reported in the Wall Street Journal, China has refused to discuss further action to combat the flow of fentanyl since then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan in August.
Rep. David Trone (D-Md.), who served as co-chair on a recent federal commission on opioid trafficking, said all talks about the drug between China and the U.S. State Department (DOS) and Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) have been cut off.
According to Chinese spokesman Liu Pengyu, the U.S. is responsible for undermining China-U.S. counter-narcotics cooperation because of the fentanyl crisis.
In August, Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, also blamed the US, saying it should address its own problems instead of deflecting blame.
According to the U.S. Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking, the Chinese government is not incentivized to put stringent regulations on its biopharmaceutical sector due to its economic importance.
The Brookings Institute estimates there are between 160,000 and 400,000 chemical manufacturers and distributors in China, many of whom operate illegally.
In January 2021, investigative journalist Sara Carter reported on a Houston-area Texas Department of Public Safety facility “reportedly holding $10 million in narcotic contraband” seized from illegal immigrants and Mexican drug trafficking cartels, an indication of the scale and severity of the problem.
A TXDPS agent told Carter, "We are seeing counterfeit pills that are being manufactured by drug traffickers. We know the precursors are coming from China into Mexico — and then the cartels manufacture that drug and move it across into our states."
NBC reported that 2.76 million people attempted to enter the U.S. illegally through the southern border in fiscal year 2022.
Overdoses caused by synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, accounted for two-thirds of all overdose deaths in 2021, according to the DEA. A person can die from as little as two milligrams of fentanyl, depending on their tolerance.
According to his website, Carter owned a pharmacy for more than 30 years before he was elected mayor of Pooler and served in Georgia's General Assembly. The Community Pharmacy Caucus is co-chaired by him, and he is serving his fourth term in Congress.
