Holding China and Mexico Accountable for America’s Fentanyl Crisis

In 2020 alone, the broader opioid epidemic cost the United States about $1.5 trillion—up 37 per- Despite the evidence that the CCp pro- cent from 2017.4 motes the export of illicit chemicals, the The United States struggles to reduce the massive biden Administration has sought to “work inflow of fentanyl. [...] In April 2024, the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party released an investigative report detailing China’s role in America’s fentanyl epidemic.10 The investigation found that the CCP “directly subsidizes the manufactur- ing and export of illicit fentanyl materials and other synthetic narcotics.”11 More specifically, the investiga. [...] In Toronto, for instance, Chinese criminal groups have established a more direct role in the smuggling, production, and distribution of fentanyl.29 Despite the evidence that the CCP affirmatively promotes the export of illicit chemicals, the Biden Administration has sought to “work with” China on its complicity in the fentanyl epidemic.30 Nonetheless, the CCP refused to discuss the issue with the. [...] Mexico to the United States The DEA finds that Mexico’s cartels are “the main driver behind the ongoing epidemic of drug poising deaths in the United States.”39 Indeed, the majority of fentanyl trafficked into the United States comes through the U. [...] These efforts to hold China and Mexico accountable will be politically and economically costly, but the price will pale in comparison to the toll on American communities and the millions of Americans lives that stand to be lost to fentanyl in the years that come.