For instance, China has accused the United States of “tariff pressure and blackmail” after President Donald Trump threatened to impose an additional 10 per cent tax on imports from China, using the flow of fentanyl as an excuse. As reported by Reuters, this new tariff threat is on top of the 10 percent duty imposed on February 4.
The tariff threat came as the U.S. was gearing up to impose the tariffs on Monday, the first day of China’s annual parliamentary meeting, at which time the country was to announce its 2025 economic policies. In response, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said that Washington had “used the fentanyl issue to insist on tariff pressure and blackmail” in reference to the US. He also said that this would have a very negative effect and would compel the two countries to engage in dialogue and cooperation on drug control.
That leaves China with less than a week to come up with its counter measures, while the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accuses China of waging a reverse’ Opium War and claiming that Beijing could be purposely flooding the US with fentanyl. The commerce ministry of China, however, defended its anti drug policies and said that it has some of the toughest laws in the world. Moreover, the country’s public security ministry has recently included seven new precursor chemicals to a domestic control list and 24 chemicals to an export control list. The ministry also stated that it had investigated 151 cases of drug making material cases in the past year and had seized more than 1,400 tons of the material, but it could not confirm if the seizures were fentanyl related. However, China has indicated interest in getting back to the negotiation table with the US, and has said that if it does not, it will retaliate.
