On Wednesday, October 23, Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin urged U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to investigate the role played by the Chinese Communist Party in the fentanyl crisis. Previously, family members of victims who lost their lives due to overdoses of synthetic opioid drugs submitted a petition requesting tariffs on Chinese goods.
According to a report by Reuters, this petition was filed last Tuesday, October 17, under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act, which allows the United States to impose sanctions on foreign countries that violate trade agreements or harm American businesses. These families hope to take trade measures in retaliation, including imposing tariffs of at least $50 billion on Chinese goods.
Government data shows that nearly 500,000 Americans have died from overdoses of synthetic opioid drugs in the past decade. In the petition, families of the victims accuse the Chinese Communist Party of failing to control the export of chemicals used by drug traffickers to produce illegal fentanyl, leading to the loss of trillions of dollars in U.S. productivity, increased healthcare costs, and other damages.
Last year, Mexico stated that the fentanyl trafficked to the United States by Mexican drug cartels is not produced in Mexico but imported from China and then made into pills for smuggling by the cartels.
A report by the U.S. House Special Committee on Chinese Communist Infiltration released in April of this year noted that 97% of the illegal fentanyl entering the United States originates from China. Fentanyl overdose has become a leading cause of death among Americans aged 18 to 45, with over 107,000 deaths last year, including the daughter of a former U.S. Vice President’s deputy national security advisor, Yew Wang-hui, who vowed to spend her remaining life fighting against the Chinese Communist Party.
In her letter on Wednesday, Baldwin urged the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to conduct a comprehensive investigation and consider taking remedial measures to “address” the harm caused by Chinese policies and actions to the U.S. economy and its people.
Yew Wang-hui stated that the Chinese Communist Party seeks to divide and indiscriminately destroy communities in every state by exporting fentanyl to the United States.
“Today’s fentanyl will become something else tomorrow,” he said, emphasizing the need to address fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction. Exporting fentanyl is one of the most efficient ways for the Chinese Communist Party to surpass the United States.
Earlier this year, Baldwin had urged the USTR to consider a Section 301 petition submitted by unions accusing the Chinese government of providing unfair support to its shipbuilding industry. USTR has launched an investigation into this matter.
Baldwin is currently facing fierce competition from Republican U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde in the swing state of Wisconsin.
The filing of this petition comes as the U.S. presidential election is set to take place on November 5, and fentanyl has become a key issue in the election. Former Republican President Trump has often criticized the fentanyl crisis and pledged to take strict measures, including military action against Mexican drug cartels.
His Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, has promised to combat the global fentanyl supply chain to prevent finished fentanyl products from entering the United States via Mexico.