China Implements New Export Restrictions on Fentanyl-Related Chemicals

Beijing announced Monday it will impose new export restrictions on 13 drug-making chemicals to the United States, Canada, and Mexico, fulfilling a pledge made to President Donald Trump during recent trade discussions with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

The targeted chemicals are used to produce synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, which has been blamed for tens of thousands of overdose deaths annually in the United States. The announcement comes after Trump and Xi’s meeting in South Korea last month, where Trump agreed to reduce a related tariff from 20% to 10% in exchange for China’s commitment to help combat the fentanyl crisis.

“What the Trump administration has essentially agreed with Beijing is for Beijing to restart what it had been doing during the second part of 2024,” before Trump returned to the White House, explained Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who specializes in the opioid crisis.

The White House defended the president’s approach, with deputy press secretary Anna Kelly stating that Trump “has taken every possible action to stop the flow of illicit narcotics into our country, from securing the border to striking drug boats to curbing fentanyl precursors.”

The cooperative relationship on fentanyl control between the two global powers has experienced significant fluctuations over the years, often reflecting the broader state of U.S.-China relations. In 2019, during Trump’s first term, Beijing took a substantial step by restricting fentanyl and related substances at his request. However, as tensions escalated over human rights issues, China began scaling back counternarcotics cooperation in 2020 before formally suspending it two years later.

The Biden administration in 2023 designated China as a “major illicit drug-producing country.” Later that year, then-President Biden met with Xi in California, successfully securing Beijing’s agreement to resume cooperation. China subsequently restricted additional substances, including another synthetic opioid and chemicals used to enhance fentanyl, with further restrictions on key fentanyl precursors implemented in September 2024.

Following Trump’s return to office and his imposition of two 10% tariffs on China—citing its failure to adequately control chemical exports—Beijing responded with its own tariffs and again paused cooperation on fentanyl.

“The Trump administration made the big error in completely discounting and ignoring what China was doing with the U.S. in 2024 and just coming in with guns blazing” on tariffs, Felbab-Brown noted. This approach, she argued, has allowed Beijing to “get double points” by agreeing to resume measures that were already being implemented in the second half of 2024.

In addition to the export restrictions, China’s National Narcotics Control Commission issued a public notice Monday urging businesses to comply with tax codes, customs rules, internet laws, and foreign currency regulations—a move signaling tougher enforcement and addressing U.S. concerns.

It’s worth noting that the newly restricted chemicals can still be exported without a license to countries other than the three North American nations specified in the Chinese Commerce Ministry announcement. This is particularly significant since fentanyl is predominantly manufactured in Mexico, using precursor chemicals that often originate in China.

Experts point out that the fundamental challenge remains the dual nature of these chemicals, which have legitimate uses in chemistry, agriculture, and the pharmaceutical industry, but are increasingly diverted to produce synthetic opioids.

In September, Trump continued to designate China as a “major illicit drug-producing country,” stating: “For too long, China has enabled illicit fentanyl production in Mexico and elsewhere by subsidizing the export of the precursor chemicals needed to produce these deadly drugs and failing to prevent Chinese companies from selling these precursors to known criminal cartels.”

The effectiveness of these new export restrictions in significantly reducing the flow of fentanyl into the United States remains to be seen, as manufacturers have consistently demonstrated the ability to adapt to regulatory changes by modifying chemical formulations or finding alternative supply routes.