Exclusive: US-China fentanyl talks hang by thread amid trade war

Michael Martina - Reuters - 12:31
Talks continue between the U.S. and China on tackling the fentanyl epidemic amid the bitter trade war between the world’s two largest economies, four U.S. officials familiar with the discussions told Reuters, even as American negotiators claim the Chinese are failing to negotiate in good faith.
  • Counternarcotics talks continue despite trade tensions
  • Trump wants China to punish sellers of fentanyl precursors
  • China demands end to ‘unjustified’ tariffs for cooperation
  • Trump team says Chinese offers so far are in ‘bad faith’
WASHINGTON, April 23 (Reuters) - Talks continue between the U.S. and China on tackling the fentanyl epidemic amid the bitter trade war between the world’s two largest economies, four U.S. officials familiar with the discussions told Reuters, even as American negotiators claim the Chinese are failing to negotiate in good faith.
The two sides are exchanging intelligence about traffickers and communicate frequently. But Beijing’s proposals to help resolve the crisis thus far are inadequate, the people said, testing the patience of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has pursued a more confrontational stance with China on drugs than did his predecessor Joe Biden.

Sign up here.

Washington says Chinese chemical manufacturers and exporters provide the majority of precursor chemicals used by drug cartels to produce synthetic opioids, the cause of nearly 450,000 U.S. overdose deaths. China has long defended its tough drug laws and record of cracking down on smugglers, and says America must get a handle on its own addiction woes.
“The abuse of fentanyl in the United States is a problem that must be confronted and resolved by the United States itself,” Liu Pengyu, spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, told Reuters.
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has engaged in direct talks with Chinese counterparts, mostly between the top staff at the Chinese embassy in Washington and the U.S. National Security Council, the four U.S. officials said. Staff at the U.S. embassy in Beijing have also been involved.
Trump negotiators have conveyed his desire for swift action by Chinese authorities to prosecute and convict China-based producers and sellers of precursors feeding the fentanyl trade, the U.S. officials said. China, in turn, has offered to regulate additional fentanyl precursor chemicals beyond those it already controls, a proposal the Americans say falls well short of what they’re looking for.
"Talk is cheap," one of the U.S. officials said, adding the two sides were largely "at an impasse."
In response to questions from Reuters...
[Short citation of 8% of the original article]