The president made the remarks during a bill-signing ceremony for the HALT Fentanyl Act.
WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump on July 16 told a crowd at the White House, which included dozens of family members of fentanyl poisoning victims, that China will honor a deal he made with Chinese leader Xi Jinping during his first term and sentence people to death for fentanyl manufacturing and distribution.
The president made the remarks during a signing ceremony for the Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act, or the HALT Fentanyl Act.
“The death penalty is going to be imposed on people from China that make fentanyl and send it into our country,” Trump said. “I believe that is going to happen soon.”
After taking office again in 2025, Trump targeted China with punitive tariffs for failing to live up to the deal that would help address the U.S fentanyl crisis.
Manufacturers in China distribute the precursor chemicals needed to create the illicit drug to various criminal organizations around the world.
Altering the compounds can allow deliveries to go unnoticed at some inspection points, and criminals have begun creating alternative versions of the deadly drug, including carfentanil, which is 100 times more potent than fentanyl, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
“I imposed a 20 percent tariff on China because of the fentanyl. … It’s a penalty because China delivers much of the fentanyl, some people would say all of it, delivered into Mexico and even into our own country,” Trump said. “We have a 20 percent [tariff], so they pay billions of dollars and billions of dollars in damages for what they’ve done.”
Following a meeting in June with U.S. Ambassador David Perdue, the Chinese communist regime added two fentanyl precursors to its list of banned substances, with enforcement beginning July 20.
More than 450,000 Americans have died of synthetic opioid overdoses over the past decade, and millions more are addicted to the drugs.
Before signing the HALT Fentanyl Act on July 16, Trump said: “This is a very special time because we’ve worked very hard to put ourselves in this position. Today we strike a righteous blow to the drug dealers, narcotic traffickers, and criminal cartels that we’ve heard about for so many years.”
The legislation, which passed with bipartisan support, reclassifies substances related to the synthetic opioids as Schedule 1 narcotics, the strictest designation established by the Controlled Substances Act.
