MK socks US can't solve its fentanyl epidemic by pointing fingers abroad while ignoring problems at home. Cartoon: Carlos Latuff" src="https://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0/attachment/2024/2024-12-01/0d634b61-1dc9-48fa-8fa9-aac3a64ded00.jpeg" />

The US can't solve its fentanyl epidemic by pointing fingers abroad while ignoring problems at home. Cartoon: Carlos Latuff

Editor's Note:

China has carried out extensive and in-depth counternarcotics cooperation with the US. However, despite this fact, the US has blamed China for the prevalence of fentanyl on US soil, a move that undermines China's goodwill and the cooperative atmosphere between the two countries. How should the US view its own crisis? What efforts has China made in the anti-drug fight? The Global Times collects opinions from Chinese and American scholars to discuss this issue. This is the first installment of the series.


No one doubts that the fentanyl and illegal drug crisis in the US is real. But in a move that has not gone unnoticed in China, the president-elect is using the epidemic of drug abuse as a justification for adding tariffs onto Chinese-produced goods entering the US.

In calendar year 2023, 74,702 Americans died because of fentanyl, a slight decline from the 76.226 deaths from the year before. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that overall drug deaths in the US also dropped in 2023, though no medical professional is suggesting the problem is going to go away anytime soon.

So, what are the causes of the fentanyl crisis in America? Simplifying what has unfolded over the past three decades into just a few sentences is risky, but, again, the purpose here is to demonstrate that pointing the finger of blame at China does not help to explain thousands upon thousands of deaths. 

One factor in the explosion of fentanyl use and deaths is that it is inexpensive in comparison to other illicit drugs. Next, doctors overprescribed legal pain medications beginning about 30 years ago with the unintended consequence that more and more people became addicted to them. And then there is an uncomfortable reality: The US government has not been successful at stemming the flow of fentanyl into the country.

In other words, America and Americans bear primary responsibility for creating and continuing this horrible epidemic. But why accept such blame and criticism when a convenient target is available? Because as we know in the US right now, political elites are telling Americans that China is the reason for any and all problems the US is facing. 

That reality allows us to return to the announcement of the incoming president to threaten even more tariffs on China. 

A few days ago, he posted the following on one of his social media accounts: "We will be charging China an additional 10% Tariff, above any additional Tariffs, on all of their many products coming into the United States of America." He insisted his decision was appropriate because after "many talks with China" about America's opioid addition crisis, China nevertheless failed to stop funneling "massive amounts of drugs, in particular Fentanyl" into the US.

Let's not mince words here: In order to justify raising tariffs against China, Trump created a rather far-fetched case. In doing so, he either forgot or chose to ignore that the US and China have carried out extensive, in-depth and ongoing efforts to contain America's drug crisis. Positive results have followed from those joint efforts. Moreover, Beijing has made clear that it remains ready to continue counternarcotic cooperation with the US on the basis of equality, mutual benefit and mutual respect. 

Therefore, it is peculiar that the president-elect or any leading political figure would undermine China's goodwill. Sadly, the anti-China hysteria that remains corrosive in the US allows for such nonsense to be sustained.

From the perspective of the tariffs, tariffs are bad economic policy. Earlier this year, Trump announced that he would levy 100 percent tariffs on Chinese goods, from which Americans and no one else will suffer. Consider just one example, which comes from the Tax Foundation: "Tariffs result in less efficient production, leading to reduced economic output and lower incomes over the long run." If that is not good enough for you, then remember what American Action Forum reports: Additional tariffs against China "would result in average estimated additional costs per U.S. household of between $1,700 and $2,350 annually."

To summarize, should the US persist in politicizing economic and trade issues and weaponizing tariffs, American companies and consumers will pay the heaviest price. The country's political elites know they should stop playing politics and start admitting the truth, but it is doubtful they will do that.

The author is an associate professor at the Department of Communication and Organizational Leadership at Robert Morris University. [email protected]