US lawmakers propose set of Bills to hit China over fentanyl trade

WASHINGTON - A bipartisan group of US lawmakers on Dec 17 proposed three Bills aimed at cracking down on China’s role in the US fentanyl crisis, with measures that would set up a US task force to disrupt narcotics trafficking and pave the way for sanctions on Chinese entities.

China is the dominant source of the chemical precursors used by Mexican cartels to produce fentanyl, while Chinese money launderers have become key players in the international drug trade, US authorities said.

The proposed legislation would help hold China’s ruling Communist Party (CCP) accountable for “directly fuelling the fentanyl crisis through its state subsidies of precursors”, said the House of Representatives’ select committee on China, on which all the sponsors of the Bills sit.

One Bill, the CCP Fentanyl Sanctions Act introduced by Democratic Representative Jake Auchincloss, would codify authorities for the US to cut off Chinese companies from the US banking system, including vessels, ports and online marketplaces that “knowingly or recklessly” facilitate shipment of illicit synthetic narcotics.

“This is state-sponsored poisoning of the American people,” Mr Auchincloss said at an event introducing the legislation.

“The genesis of this is squarely on the mainland of the People’s Republic of China.”

Two other Bills would create a task force of US agencies to conduct joint operations to disrupt trafficking networks, and allow for the imposition of civil penalties on Chinese entities that fail to properly manifest or follow formal entry channels when shipping precursors to the US, the committee said.

There is growing consensus in Republican circles close to President-elect Donald Trump that Beijing has exploited, even engineered, the synthetic opioid epidemic to harm Americans, something Beijing denies.

China says it has some of the strictest drug laws in the world, and that the US needs to curb narcotics demand at home.

China’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Bills.

With little time remaining in the current congressional term, the Bills would likely need to be reintroduced in 2025 after the new Congress is sworn in on Jan 3.

Mr Raja Krishnamoorthi, the top Democrat on the select committee, wrote in an article in December that it was “time to get tough” on Beijing over fentanyl. REUTERS