(Bloomberg) -- China said it has forcefully cracked down on the fentanyl trade and condemned President Donald Trump’s tariffs, as the world’s two largest economies remain at odds over the conditions for any talks to cool tensions.
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Officials from China’s Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Public Security said in a briefing on Wednesday the country has achieved success in controlling the drugs and done all it can for the US. The officials asked not to be identified discussing sensitive matters.
A Foreign Ministry official said Beijing has done the US a favor and Washington should have said a “big thank you” instead of slapping levies on Chinese imports. He also called on the Trump administration to return to dialogue and expressed willingness to continue working with the US.
In a separate statement, the National Medical Products Administration said authorities will strengthen the supervision of fentanyl-related drug production and enforce strict export approval process to prevent diversion into illegal channels.
Talks between the US and China on trade and other issues are stuck at lower levels, with both sides failing to agree on the best way to proceed. Beijing said the US hasn’t outlined detailed steps they expect from China on fentanyl in order to have the tariffs lifted, Bloomberg News reported citing people familiar with the issue. A person familiar said Trump’s team rejected the assertion, saying the White House had sent messages to China through diplomats in Washington.
In an executive order hiking tariffs on China last week, Trump said Beijing had done too little to alleviate the drug crisis and called the alleged flow of drugs into the US “an unusual and extraordinary threat.”
China in turn accused the Trump administration of using the fentanyl issue as a pretext to raise tariffs. It also issued a white paper this month outlining its efforts to control fentanyl and related substances. Chinese officials handed out copies of the document to reporters on Wednesday and largely reiterated its commitment to fighting drugs.
2019 Convictions
In late 2019 China sentenced nine people for smuggling fentanyl to the US, the first convictions to arise from joint investigations with American law enforcement into the flow of the highly addictive painkiller. However, cooperation fell off after that, and didn’t formally restart until last year.