(Bloomberg) — China said it has forcefully cracked down on the fentanyl trade and condemned President Donald Trump’s tariffs, as the world’s two largest economies remain at odds over the conditions for any talks to cool tensions.
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Officials from China’s Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Public Security said in a briefing on Wednesday the country has achieved success in controlling the drugs and done all it can for the US. The officials asked not to be identified discussing sensitive matters.
A Foreign Ministry official said Beijing has done the US a favor and Washington should have said a “big thank you” instead of slapping levies on Chinese imports. He also called on the Trump administration to return to dialogue and expressed willingness to continue working with the US.
Talks between the US and China on trade and other issues are stuck at lower levels, with both sides failing to agree on the best way to proceed. Beijing said the US hasn’t outlined detailed steps they expect from China on fentanyl in order to have the tariffs lifted, Bloomberg News reported citing people familiar with the issue. A person familiar said Trump’s team rejected the assertion, saying the White House had sent messages to China through diplomats in Washington.
In an executive order hiking tariffs on China last week, Trump said Beijing had done too little to alleviate the drug crisis and called the alleged flow of drugs into the US “an unusual and extraordinary threat.”
China in turn accused the Trump administration of using the issue as a pretext to raise tariffs, and published a white paper outlining its efforts to control fentanyl and related substances. Chinese officials handed out copies of the document to reporters Wednesday and largely reiterated its commitment to fighting drugs.
Trump “really cares” about fentanyl and isn’t just using it as an excuse for tariffs,” according to Drew Thompson, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
“I think for China to take this seriously — and not just try to fix it with white papers and offers to have dialogue, but actual crackdowns and regulatory changes to get to the root producers — that’s the only way to take this chip off the table,” he said.
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