The spokesperson emphasized that law-enforcement agencies from both countries have been actively implementing the consensus reached by Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump during their October 30 summit in Busan, South Korea, and that cooperation has already produced significant results.
Cross-departmental drug-control teams maintain regular contact, with a recent video conference used to exchange the latest updates and set priorities for future joint work.
Last month, China introduced mandatory export licensing for 13 key fentanyl precursor chemicals shipped to the United States, Mexico, and Canada — a concrete step that followed the Busan agreement. The move expands earlier controls and requires Chinese manufacturers to verify the end-use and end-user of these substances.
In October, President Trump stated that he would remove all fentanyl-related tariffs on Chinese goods if Beijing took decisive action to curb the export of precursors. After the Busan meeting, he immediately halved those tariffs from 20% to 10% and has left open the possibility of eliminating them entirely if cooperation continues.
The fentanyl crisis has become one of the most pressing public-health and diplomatic issues between the two countries. The synthetic opioid, often produced by Mexican cartels using Chinese-sourced chemicals, is blamed for more than 100,000 overdose deaths annually in the United States. While China has repeatedly said it has no domestic fentanyl problem and maintains some of the world’s strictest drug laws, Washington has long pressed Beijing to tighten oversight of its vast chemical industry.
Since the Busan summit, both sides have revived the US-China Counternarcotics Working Group, which had been largely dormant. Chinese authorities report shutting down dozens of illicit precursor labs, while American agencies have shared intelligence on trafficking networks and money-laundering schemes.
Friday’s statement from the Ministry of Public Security signals that Beijing intends to keep the momentum going, framing the effort as part of a broader commitment to global public health rather than a concession to US pressure.
With the two presidents scheduled to meet again in the coming months — Trump is expected in China in the spring and Xi is likely to visit the US in 2026 — sustained cooperation on fentanyl is seen as a key test of whether the recent improvement in bilateral ties can endure.
For now, the combination of new export controls, regular high-level dialogue, and a partial rollback of punitive tariffs has created the most constructive atmosphere on this issue in years.
