China says US has undermined fentanyl cooperation by imposing tariffs

By Antoni Slodkowski

BEIJING (Reuters) -China said on Wednesday that the U.S. has undermined bilateral counter-narcotics cooperation by imposing tariffs on Chinese goods over fentanyl, calling on Washington to stop using the issue as a bargaining chip to "blackmail" the country.

U.S. President Donald Trump has increased tariffs on all Chinese imports to 20% from the previous 10% levy to punish Beijing for what he says is its failure to halt shipments of chemicals used for the production of the deadly opioid fentanyl to the United States.

"The U.S. should've said a big thank you to us," a senior Chinese foreign ministry official said at a briefing in Beijing to discuss China's white paper on fentanyl issued earlier this month.

"But regrettably...the United States doesn't appreciate this kindness. On the contrary, it is using the fentanyl issue to spread all kinds of lies and has been smearing China, shifting the blame, regardless of the progress of the cooperation."

The U.S. and China restarted fentanyl and law enforcement cooperation more than a year ago under former U.S. President Joe Biden, helping to improve ties that had suffered over issues ranging from trade rows, COVID-19, Taiwan and human rights.

The cooperation has resulted in multiple high-level visits over the last year and improved information sharing between the investigators, although Trump has accused China of not moving hard and fast enough with its fentanyl crackdown.

The Chinese foreign ministry official said that the U.S. using "something that has achieved a lot of progress...as an excuse to slap tariffs on China was not the way to solve problems," adding that the U.S. was "returning kindness with hostility" and its actions made "no sense".

"It will seriously undermine dialogue and cooperation between the two countries on drug control," the official said. "We are firmly opposed to the pressuring, threatening and blackmail from U.S. side citing the fentanyl issue as an excuse."

Over recent years China has taken steps to constrict the fentanyl pipeline. During the first Trump administration, in 2019, it placed fentanyl and its analogs under national control, effectively ending illicit exports of the finished product.

But exporters shifted their tactics, experts say, by instead selling "precursor" or even "pre-precursor" chemicals used to make fentanyl by Mexican cartels that require only minor modifications to create the final product.

The U.S., where fentanyl abuse has been a major cause of death, has pushed China for deeper law enforcement cooperation, including tackling illicit finance, arrests of rogue chemists and raids of labs involved in the production of precursors.

A Reuters series last year penetrated the fentanyl supply chain and revealed how drug traffickers bring Chinese-made fentanyl ingredients into the U.S. and Mexico and then synthesize them in clandestine Mexican labs.

(Reporting by Antoni Slodkowski; Editing by Angus MacSwan)