This week, the US president-elect announced he would be slapping 25 per cent tariffs on imports from China, Mexico and Canada when he assumes power.
But Trump went a step further with China, singling out the emerging superpower for its role in the US opioid crisis, which is killing thousands of Americans every year.
In a post on his Truth Social site, he said he wants to impose an “an additional 10 per cent tariff” on imports from China until the flow of illicit drugs, particularly fentanyl, dries up.
Trump said he has “had many talks with China about the massive amounts of drugs, in particular Fentanyl, being sent into the United States – But to no avail”.
But China has challenged his claims about the flow of deadly synthetic opioids into the US.
A foreign ministry spokesperson said: “China is one of the world’s toughest countries on counternarcotics both in terms of policy and its implementation. Fentanyl is an issue for the US. In the spirit of humanity, China has given support to the US’s response to this issue.”
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is up to 100 times more powerful than heroin, is a central driver in the US overdose crisis.
In 2022, it was linked to about 71,000 of the more than 100,000 reported US drug overdose deaths.
Even a two-milligram dose can be fatal.
How much is sourced from China?
While fentanyl and other synthetic opioids are smuggled into the US by Mexican cartels, nearly all the global supply originates from China.
Exporters in China avoid directly shipping illegal fentanyl to the US by shipping precursor chemicals to Mexico, where they can be made into fentanyl and moved to the US.
Global law enforcement expert John Coyne, of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, told 9news.com.au it was difficult to establish whether the Chinese government is turning a blind eye.
“We’re talking about is a pharmaceutical and chemical industry that has grown over a couple of decades,” he said.
“There are tens of thousands of facilities so doing compliance over all those is an incredibly challenging activity.”
He also pointed to the findings of a US government inquiry which highlighted how China was aiding the trade.
“In some provinces, there are subsidies offered for companies that have no purpose except for the production of chemical pre-cursors to make fentanyl,” Coyne said.
What is China doing to stem the flow of fentanyl into the US?
Talks between Beijing and Washington on the fentanyl crisis were kickstarted last year when US President Joe Biden met Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
China has since been scheduling chemicals precursors that have been banned globally, in a bid to regulate what is made available to the public.
But there has been little effect in reducing the US opioid crisis.
While China insists the scourge is essentially a US problem, Coyne points to the Chinese government’s huge security apparatus as a potential weapon for cracking down on chemical precursor exports.
He says the claims by Trump and other US right-wingers that Beijing is deliberately trying to undermine the US with fentanyl are wide of the mark.
“It’s more that China is choosing not to deal with this issue.”
