What Is The Fentanyl Issue That Brough China-US At Brink Of A "War" (X image @MilwaukeePolice)

China vows that if war is what the United States is seeking, Beijing is ready for it, be it tariff, trade or any other kind of war. The country also slammed US President Donald Trump’s accusation of fentanyl flow from China as a “flimsy excuse”. Beijing also asked Washington to put away “bullying faces”. Trump said the high tariff is to curb the flow of fentanyl. a lethal and highly potent synthetic opioid, into US.

Beijing’s Foreign Ministry said, “Exerting extreme pressure on China is the wrong target and the wrong calculation … If the US has other intentions and insists on a tariff war, trade war or any other war, China will fight to the end. We advise the US to put away its bullying f and return to the right track of dialogue and cooperation as soon as possible”.

Trump imposed an extra 10 percentage tariff on Chinese goods, making the cumulative duty to 20 percentage. Following the Foreign Ministry’s post on X, Chinese Embassy in US also said “If war is what the US wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end”.

Ever since Trump returned to office, he has engaged in a war of words with China, Canada, and Mexico. The Republican said that the countries are key players in smuggling fentanyl into US, and high tariff would curb such flows. “They’ve allowed fentanyl to come into our country at levels never seen before, killing hundreds of thousands of our citizens and many very young, beautiful people, destroying families”, he said.

What is the fentanyl story?

Trump’s said “extraordinary threat” posed by fentanyl, which the countries in question failed to prevent from coming to US. The fentanyl crisis has been ravaging US for past few years. The drug has been the leading cause of death in Washington of individuals aged between 18 to 45, said media reports. The issue was at its peak in 2022, and 2023, when the drug overdoses caused more than 111,000 fatalities per year, most of them driven by fentanyl.

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Though, China and Mexico, two of the top countries that see elements of fentanyl traffic to the United States, have stepped up measures to contain the flow of the drug. Ottawa also introduced measures to curb the flow, though the country’s record in fentanyl flow to US is almost none.

Death rate still remains thousands, but the figure has climbed down since 2024. According to US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data, fatal overdoses have dropped nationwide by more than 21 percent since June 2023. The death toll was marked below 85,000 in 12-month period, which ended in last September. While the figure is still huge, it has been a record low since 2020.

Mexico is said to be the major major recipient of precursor chemicals used as ingredients for fentanyl via illicit networks set up by cartels. After the manufacturing of the drug, the cartels often hire US citizens to smuggle it to the country. The drug is easier to smuggle without noticing, as a small amount is necessary to transport, given its high potency. According to cfr, Mexico has been the main source of fentanyl into the United States as nearly all of the 21,900 pounds that U.S. law enforcement seized last year was at the southern border while only 43 pounds of fentanyl was seized at the Canadian border.

The Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has leveled up government enforcement toward gangs involved in smuggling. The country made the biggest arrest of fentanyl traffickers in its history in December. US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) data also indicates that the amount of fentanyl seized at the southern border last year dropped by around 20 percentage.

China banned fentanyl and all potential fentanyl variants within its own borders in 2019. Beijing maintains that it does not allow the manufacturing of the drug. Chinese companies are widely known to make precursor chemicals, most of which have legitimate reasons to produce controlled substances, especially in the medical sector. But the precursors are often purchased by transnational criminal organizations in Mexico to synthesize fentanyl, as per media report.

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For years, China was hesitant in tackling the supply chain of precursor chemicals, pointing to its own ban on the drug as its lack of contribution to the fentanyl issue. In 2024, Beijing reached an agreement with former US President Joe Biden’s administration to impose tougher measures on precursor chemicals. The two sides also agreed to boost cooperation to stem drug trafficking.

After Trump’s claim of fentanyl flow as the reason of tariff threats, Canada and Mexico negotiated a pause on implementing tariffs and have since ramped up their antidrug measures. Ottawa introduced a $1.3 billion plan to secure the border and appointed a fentanyl czar. Mexico said that it would immediately reinforce its border with another ten thousand National Guard troops aimed specifically at stopping fentanyl in its tracks.

China said the high tariff will actually undermine the cooperation against drug trafficking. Some US experts also believe the same. Trump’s move to pause all foreign assistance has already halted anti-fentanyl work in Mexico, officials familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Canada and Mexico retaliated Trump’s tariff threat with similar tariffs. China said that it would take “necessary countermeasures” to defend its interests and announced duties ranging from 10–15 percent to counter the 10 percentage tariff Trump put. In response to Beijing, the US President imposed yet another 10 percent tariff, totaling a 20 percent levy on all Chinese imports.

(With inputs from agencies)