BBC check
President Donald Trump has imposed a tariff on Chinese products, which has not prevented the export of chemicals used for powerful opioid pentanil production.
The United States has long accused Chinese companies deliberately supplied groups related to drug production. Beijing counterattacked with its own tariffs.
The White House also accused Canada and Mexico that they had not prevented criminals from smuggling Pentanil into the United States.
Trump planned a tariff on the two countries, but stopped the threat after gaining concessions on border security.
How serious is the Pentanil crisis in the United States?
Pentanyl is a synthetic drug made of a combination of chemicals. The US regulatory agency was approved to be used as a painkiller in the medical environment in the 1960s, but has since become a major drug in charge of overdose of opioids in the United States.
More than 74,000 Americans died in 2023 after taking pentanil -containing drug mixtures. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Control.
It is often mixed with other illegal drugs, preventing many users from knowing that it contains pentanil.
2 milligram pentanils (approximately pencil tips) can be fatal.
Over the past decade, the global pentanil supply chain has expanded, making it more difficult for law enforcement and policy makers to control.
China is a major source of precursor chemicals used to produce pentanil.
Most pentanil enters the United States through Mexico.
Since September, 4,500LB (2,040 kg) pentanil has been seized in the United States. Figures published by US Customs and Borders Patrol (CBP).
Almost all (98%) intercepted from the southwestern border with Mexico. Less than 1% was seized on the northern border with Canada. The rest came from the maritime route or other American checkpoints.
According to the US Pharmaceutical Execution Agency (DEA) It plays an important role in producing and conveying pentanilMetampletamine and other illegal drugs to the United States.
The chemicals used to make pentanyl were supplied to China by traffickers and imported from the US laboratory to a product that was completed from the laboratory in Mexico.
According to DEA, SINALOA CARTEL uses a variety of tactics to hide chemicals between legitimate commercial products, mislead containers, use front companies, and hide ships to Mexico, such as delivery through third -party countries. .
The Trump administration accused the Mexican government for colliding with drug cartels. Mexico’s Shane Baum said that this claim is “slander.”
Shortly after Trump threatened Mexico in December, the country’s security troops announced the greatest seizure of Pentanil.
China is a major source of pentanil chemicals.
In 2019, China categorized pentanil as a controlled drug and added some chemicals used to use this later.
Nevertheless, transactions of other chemicals involved in the manufacture of pentanil can have legal purposes. People related to trade remain without control because they find new ways to avoid law.
According to the review of some US prosecution, including the details of a secret agent who communicates with a Chinese manufacturer, some chemical companies in China sell chemicals, including chemicals, with the knowledge that they are trying to make pentanil.
Dozens of prosecutions reviewed by the BBC have been sold by Chinese manufacturers through encrypted platforms and cryptocurrency payments.
Vanda Felbab-Brown, a colleague of foreign policy of Brookings Institute, said, “There is a huge loophole in which criminals participate in selling legal products, but they are deliberately sold to criminal institutions.
In the statement, China has the world’s most strict drug law and has been jointly operated with the United States in the past.
“The United States has to solve its own Pentanil problem,” he said.
And China is a major source of chemicals used to make pentanil, but DEA also confirmed India as an emerging source. For this chemical.
In January 2025, in the US prosecution, two chemical companies in India supplied chemicals used to supply Pentanil to the United States and Mexico.
Canada’s role in Pentanil Trade
Trump, along with Mexico, accused Canada that “a vast number of people came in and allowed Pentanil to enter the United States.”
According to data from the US Customs and Border Patrols, only about 0.2%of the pentanil seizures entering the United States are made from the Canadian border, and almost all the rest are seized from the Mexico and the US border.
However, in January, the Canadian Financial Intelligence Service is a Canadian organized criminal organization. It is getting more and more involved in the production of pentanil. By importing China’s chemicals and laboratory equipment.
Pentanil’s transaction is made in both directions. The Canadian border service seized 10.8LB (4.9kg) of Pentanil in the United States for the first 10 months in 2024, while the US border patrols crossed 32.1LB (14.6 kg) of Pentanil from Canada.
In December, the country promised C $ 1.3 billion ($ 900m; £ 700m) to fight pentanil and strengthen border security.
Additional report of Lucy Gilder.
