Bill to sanction Chinese officials who avoid action on fentanyl passes US House

A bipartisan bill that would impose sanctions on Chinese officials who intentionally avoid taking action to prevent the trafficking of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids passed the US House of Representatives on Tuesday.

The proposed Stop Chinese Fentanyl Act passed 407-4 on lawmakers’ first day back in Washington following a month-long recess, with only a few Democrats opposing it. This comes as the two countries are preparing for their next round of trade talks, to be held before November 10 when a 90-day tariff truce expires and likely before a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The legislation, sponsored by Representative Andy Barr of Kentucky with seven other Republicans and one Democrat, would also make it easier to impose sanctions on Chinese manufacturers and distributors of fentanyl that fail to take “credible steps” to prevent or detect opioid trafficking. These steps include implementing “know-your-customer” procedures and cooperation with US counter-narcotics efforts.

“We must attack the production of fentanyl by targeting the source of precursors in China: Chinese producers of synthetic opioids and opioid precursors and senior government and Chinese political officials,” Barr said on the House floor on Tuesday.

Representative Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, expressed support for the bill on Tuesday while saying that the US “cannot sanction our way out of the fentanyl crisis”.

“We need the active partnership of law enforcement in nations like China and Mexico,” he said, adding that while “tough talk has its place”, effective diplomacy was “indispensable”.

To become law, the bill would have to pass the Republican-controlled Senate and get Trump’s signature. In 2023, during Democratic control of the Senate and the presidency, the House cleared a similar bill that ultimately failed to become law.

South China Morning Post