In collaboration with China, President Donald Trump has effectively “shut off the pipeline that creates fentanyl,” FBI Director Kash Patel says.
China has “agreed on a plan to stop fentanyl precursors,” Patel said at the White House press briefing Wednesday. Patel traveled to Beijing over the weekend and met with officials regarding the scourge of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that killed 48,000 Americans in 2024 alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The precursor chemicals used to make the highly lethal drug flow out of China to Central and South America.
“The People’s Republic of China has fully designated and listed all 13 precursors utilized to make fentanyl,” Patel said. “Furthermore, they have agreed to control seven chemical subsidiaries that are also utilized to produce this lethal drug, effective immediately.”
“These substances are now banned, and they will no longer be utilized by the Mexican drug trafficking organizations or any other [Drug Trafficking Organizations] around the world to make this drug,” the FBI director said, calling the agreement a “historic achievement.”
Trump discussed the fentanyl crisis with Xi Jinping during the two leaders meeting in South Korea at the end of October. Following the meeting, Trump said Xi agreed to work with the U.S. to stop the flow the fentanyl chemicals out of the People’s Republic of China.
“They will help us end the Fentanyl Crisis,” Trump said.
Patel credited Trump’s “historic engagement with President Xi” for the action China now says it will take to crackdown on the chemicals.
“This is yet another example of how President Trump defends the American people, provides security for the American people, and puts the American people first,” Patel said. “This is a historic first of its kind achievement by any president to stop the scourge of fentanyl, and it should be championed by every single American. This achievement will save lives.”
Drug overdoses and poisonings, largely from fentanyl, reached an alarming high in America in recent years, taking over 100,000 lives in 2022, with little change in 2023, according to the CDC.
China has previously made verbal pledges to take action to stop the flow of fentanyl precursor chemicals out of China, making some experts cautiously optimistic over Wednesday’s announcement.
“The Chinese government has made commitments to combating the fentanyl crisis before, and those haven’t materialized in substantial actions or commitments to enforcements,” Andrés Martínez-Fernández, a senior policy analyst for Latin America in The Heritage Foundation’s Allison Center for National Security, told The Daily Signal.
“I’m looking forward to seeing what the actual effects of this latest announcement will be,” Martínez-Fernández continued, adding, “but ultimately, I don’t think the United States can rely on China to confront the fentanyl crisis.”
