The United States and China found a rare common ground in their trade talks in Madrid this week, agreeing to work together to crack down on money laundering from illegal fentanyl sales.
“The money laundering is the result of fentanyl sales, and both the People’s Republic of China’s government and the US government and citizens are hurt by the money laundering,” he said.
Bessent added that modern money laundering networks were the “offspring” of groups originally designed to evade China’s capital controls and had since morphed to serve Mexican drug cartels.
“We discussed ways we could work together and the Chinese delegation was very keen to work with us. It was an area of extreme agreement,” he said.
01:44
US, China join forces to counter global fentanyl trade
US, China join forces to counter global fentanyl trade
The US has long accused China of being both a source of fentanyl precursors – the chemicals used to make the drug – and a hub for money laundering networks.
