Beijing Announces Controls on 2 Fentanyl Precursors Following Trade Deal

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Jun 24, 2025 - 09:57 Updated: Jun 24, 2025 - 09:50
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Beijing Announces Controls on 2 Fentanyl Precursors Following Trade Deal

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The Chinese communist regime announced new controls for two fentanyl precursors on Sunday, following a trade agreement between China and the United States.

From July 20, two chemicals, 4-piperidone and 1-boc-4-piperidone, will be added to the regime’s list of controlled substances, according to a joint statement by six departments, including the National Health Commission, General Administration of Customs, the National Medical Products Administration, and the Ministries of Public Security, Commerce, and Emergency Management.

Under Chinese regulations on List II drug precursors, manufacturers, distributors, and buyers of 4-piperidone and 1-boc-4-piperidone will be required to report the quantity and the destination of the chemicals to local governments. Cross-county transportation of the chemicals require the approval of local police stations.

Since 2013, Fentanyl and its analogues have dramatically pushed up the rate of overdose deaths from synthetic opioids in the United States, from one death per 100,000 people in 2013 to 22.7 per 100,000 in 2022, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, which is under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In 2022 alone, synthetic opioids such as fentanyl killed 73,838 people in the United States, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Federal prosecutors said fentanyl-related precursors are mainly sourced from China-based chemical manufacturers that often openly advertise the chemicals online.

According to an investigation last year by the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, companies in China produced “nearly all fentanyl precursors that are used to manufacture illicit fentanyl worldwide.”

In the United States, 4-piperidone and 1-boc-4-piperidone are both classified as List I chemicals.

Beijing’s gesture on Sunday followed a meeting in the the Chinese capital on June 19 between Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong and U.S. Ambassador David Perdue. According to Chinese state media Xinhua, Wang said the regime was willing to work with the United States in areas including counter-narcotics and illegal immigration.

Earlier this year, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed 20 percent additional tariffs on imports from China, citing the regime’s failure to stop the flow of illegal drugs, including fentanyl, to the United States via Mexico, on which he also imposed tariffs for failing to stem the flow of illegal immigration or deal with the cartels there that smuggle the fentanyl into the country.

In April, Trump imposed reciprocal tariffs of 125 percent on most Chinese products, while the Chinese regime, in retaliation, raised tariffs on U.S. goods to 125 percent and imposed other measures.

Beijing repeatedly denied being responsible for the U.S. fentanyl crisis.

After talks in Geneva, Washington and Beijing agreed on a 90-day truce on May 12 and slashed reciprocal tariffs by 115 percent. The 20 percent tariffs imposed over fentanyl and illegal immigration remained in place, but Beijing said it was willing to collaborate on fentanyl, U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer and Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said at the time.

“The upside surprise for me from this weekend was the level of Chinese engagement on the fentanyl crisis in the United States,” Bessent said. ”They brought the Deputy Minister for Public Safety ... and he had a very robust and highly detailed discussion.”

On June 11, Trump said the two sides had stuck a deal.

“We are getting a total of 55 [percent] tariffs, China is getting 10 [percent],” he wrote on social media platform Truth Social.

In addition, Beijing agreed to supply necessary rare earths while Washington will continue to allow Chinese students to study in U.S. universities, the president said.

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