Is Fentanyl crisis a justifiable reason for U.S. to impose tariffs?

The United States has imposed tariffs on China and other countries including Canada and Mexico. The primary reason for the U.S. to target China is the fentanyl crisis. However, is the fentanyl issue truly a justification for these tariffs?

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and numerous experts argue that the root of the U.S. fentanyl crisis lies in its own massive drug abuse issue and government regulatory failures. They also note that by using its fentanyl crisis as a pretext to impose tariffs, the U.S. government is shifting blame rather than addressing the issue.

According to the International Narcotics Control Board, the U.S. is the world's largest producer and consumer of fentanyl-related substances, consuming 80 percent of the global opioid supply despite having only five percent of the world's population. Data from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) shows that fentanyl overdoses have become one of the U.S. biggest killers. More than 1,500 Americans per week die from taking some type of opioid, making the drug by far the leading cause of fatal overdoses in the country.

While the U.S. condemned countries including Canada, China and Mexico for its fentanyl crisis, analysts pointed out that the deeper issue lies in the growing social inequalities, wealth disparities, and systemic racism in the U.S., which have left many young people disillusioned and turning to drugs as a coping mechanism. 

As one U.S. netizen said on social media, "Fentanyl is not the cause, but the result. Disheartened and helpless people doing disheartened and helpless things," highlighting the underlying social and governance crises in the U.S.

Moreover, the influence of pharmaceutical companies on U.S. policymakers and weak government oversight have exacerbated the fentanyl crisis.

The Guardian revealed that U.S. drug manufacturers have spent heavily on lobbying Congress, with approximately 90 percent of House representatives and nearly all Senators receiving campaign donations from pharmaceutical companies. Despite bipartisan recognition of the severity of the fentanyl crisis, political infighting has hindered effective solutions. For instance, in May 2023, the Republican-controlled House voted on the "Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act," but 133 representatives, including 132 Democrats, opposed the bill.

A Gallup survey published in November 2023 found that 52 percent of U.S. adults believe the country has lost ground in addressing the illegal drug problem.

Unlike the U.S., China actively fulfills its obligations as a contracting state to UN's Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 and the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971, according to the whitepaper titled "Controlling Fentanyl-Related Substances – China's Contribution," which was released by China's State Council Information Office early March.

In accordance with relevant provisions of its Regulations on Administration of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances and Measures on the Control of Nonmedical Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, China expands its list of controlled substances in line with the United Nations control list in a timely manner, said the whitepaper. 

In 2019, China became the first country to impose comprehensive control over fentanyl-related substances, effective from May 1, 2019. Since then, China's Ministry of Public Security has launched annual campaigns to combat the illegal manufacturing and trafficking of fentanyl and other new drugs. In 2023, China intensified its efforts by collaborating with customs authorities to inspect exports at key ports, particularly those bound for high-risk countries.

China has also established a comprehensive regulatory system covering the entire lifecycle of fentanyl, from production to distribution and import/export. Any export of fentanyl-related precursors requires approval from the National Medical Products Administration and is tracked under the United Nations' "Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals."

In March 2022, the U.S. State Department's International Narcotics Control Strategy Report acknowledged that since China's wide control of fentanyl-related substances in 2019, U.S. authorities have detected or seized almost no shipments of fentanyl or fentanyl analogues coming from China. Additionally, China has actively cooperated with Mexico on anti-drug enforcement, and Mexican authorities have never seized precursor chemicals originating from China.

Despite these efforts, the U.S. continues to disregard China's achievements in drug control and its stringent fentanyl regulations, using the crisis as a pretext to impose tariffs on China and Canada. Professor Li Haidong from the China Foreign Affairs University told CMG that the Trump administration's decision to impose tariffs on China, shortly after taking office, was driven by political calculations.

He argued that the U.S. is fully aware of the difficulty in fundamentally solving the fentanyl crisis and is instead shifting blame to China to bolster domestic support and justify its tariff policies.

China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao criticized the U.S. for using the fentanyl issue as an unjustified excuse to impose tariffs, calling it a baseless move. He stated that the U.S. tariff policy is a unilateral and bullying action that runs counter to global trends and is a "classic case of harming others without benefiting itself."