BBC check
President Donald Trump has imposed caring tariffs on Chinese goods, citing the failure of Beijing to stop the export of chemicals used in the production of a powerful opioid fentania.
The United States has long accused Chinese corporations of consciously supplying groups involved in creating a drug. Beijing returned to his tariffs.
The White House also accused Canada and Mexico that they failed to prevent criminal gangs of smuggling fentanil in the United States.
Trump planned tariffs against both countries, but suspended this threat after winning some concessions to the increased security of the border.
How serious is the fental crisis in the US?
Fentanil is a synthetic drug made from a combination of chemicals. The US regulators approved it for use in medical environments as pain relief in the 1960s, but has since become the main remedy responsible for the death of an overdose of Opioids in the United States.
Over 74,000 Americans died in 2023 after taking a drug -containing drug mixture, According to US Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
It is often mixed with other illegal drugs, which many users are not aware that the substances they consume contain fentanyl.
Just a dose of two milligrames of the fantanila – about the size of the tip of the pen – can be fatal.
Over the past decades, the global supply chain has spread over the implementation of the law and creators of control policy.
China is a primary source of prekursor chemicals used to produce fantanila.
Most of the fentanila enters the US via Mexico
Since September in the United States -in a seizure of 4,500 lb (2,040 pounds) of the fentanila, according to Data published by US Customs and Border Patrols (CBP).
Almost all (98%) were intercepted at the southwestern border with Mexico. Less than 1% was seized through the northern American border with Canada. The rest was from marine routes or other American control points.
According to US drug conduct (DEA), Mexican criminal organization – including Kartel Sinalo – play a key role in the production and providing fentanilmethamphetamine and other illegal drugs in the US.
Fentanyl chemicals get dealers from China and converted to a finished product into Laboratories in Mexico before being destroyed in the US.
According to the Dea, Cartel Sinalo uses various tactics to cover up the shipments that come to Mexico, such as hiding chemicals among lawful commercial goods, misconceptions of containers, using front companies and shipping through third -party countries.
Trump’s administration accused the Mexican government of clashing with drug cartels. Mexican President Sheinbaum says the claims are “defamation”.
In December, shortly after Trump threatened with Mexico tariffs, the country’s safety forces announced their greatest ever subtraction of the fental – an equivalent of about 20 million doses.
China is a major source of fentanyl chemicals
In 2019, China classified Fentanil as a controlled narcotics and later added some chemicals that were used for it on the list.
Nevertheless, the trade of other chemicals involved in the production of fental – some of which may have legitimate purposes – remain uncontrolled, because those involved in the store find new ways to avoid law.
An overview of several US indictments, which include details about secret agents who communicate with Chinese manufacturers, suggests that some chemical companies in China have sold chemicals – including controlled – in the knowledge that they are intended for the creation of fentanil.
Dozens of indictments reviewed by the BBC check the details in which Chinese manufacturers have given instructions on how to make fentanil from the products they sell, through encrypted platforms and payments of cryptocurrencies.
“So you have these huge holes in which criminals are involved in the sale of legal products, but consciously sell them with criminal entities,” says Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior associate in foreign policy at the Brookings Institute.
In a statement, China said she had some of the strictest drug laws in the world and that he had performed joint operations with the US in the past.
“Now they need to look and solve their own question of the fentanil,” it is said.
And while China remains the main source of chemicals used to make fentanis, Dea also identified India as the main source in the emergence for these chemicals.
In the US indictment since January 2025, two chemical companies in India were charged with supplying chemicals used for making fentania in the United States and Mexico.
The role of Canada in the Fentanil store
President Trump accused Canada – along with Mexico – that he allowed “a huge number of people to enter and enter Fentanil” in the US.
According to the US Customs and Border Patrol, only about 0.2% of all fental seizures entering the USA was made on the Canadian border, almost everything else was confiscated on the US border with Mexico.
But in January, the Canadian Financial Intelligence Agency reported that criminal groups in Canada had been organized Increasingly involved in the production of fentanil By importing chemicals used to make and laboratory equipment from China.
Fentanil trade takes place in both directions. In the first 10 months of 2024, the Canadian border service reported that it seized 10.8 LB (4.9 kg) of the fentanila that entered from the US, while US border patrol intercepted 32.1 LB (14.6kg) of Fentanil who came from Canada.
In December, the Earth promised $ 1.3 billion ($ 900 million; $ 700 million) to combat the fental and an increase in the border security.
Additional Lucy Gilder reporting.
