The White House says a U.S. delegation met with Beijing counterparts Tuesday to plot ways to stem the flow of fentanyl precursor chemicals from China to places like Mexico, where cartels use them to manufacture the deadly synthetic opioid.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said there was a “good set of discussions” at the inaugural meeting of the joint task force, after President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping struck a fentanyl-crackdown deal at their California summit last November.
“They committed to cooperate on increased law enforcement coordination to tackle the distribution and export of precursor chemicals for the opioids that are taking so many lives, to deal with addressing illicit financing and to increase our information-sharing across our two governments,” Mr. Kirby said of China. “The goal here is to produce concrete, measurable actions that lead to a reduction in the supply of these precursor chemicals that are, again, killing so many Americans.”
He said Treasury Department-led meetings will continue Wednesday in Beijing.
Tens of thousands of Americans die each year from fentanyl.
Mexican drug cartels often take the precursor chemicals from China, make fentanyl and press the drug into counterfeit pills.
American users buy the pills, thinking it is another drug, and die from overdoses.
Mr. Biden called Mr. Xi’s commitment to crack down on precursor chemicals a major victory last fall, though the U.S. side is watching to see if Beijing follows through.
Mr. Kirby called this week’s meetings a “really good start to this process.”