Government Accountability Institute President Peter Schweizer praised the Trump administration for confronting China’s role in the U.S. fentanyl crisis on an appearance on Fox Business’s Bottom Line program, but doubts Beijing has any real intention of stopping the production or export of fentanyl precursor chemicals or their financial support of the Mexican drug cartels that smuggle it into the United States.
“I think the Trump administration deserves a lot of credit for raising this issue and making it a central concern, but I think it rests on the assumption that China wants to fix this problem, and they don’t,” Schweizer said.
He detailed how Chinese nationals in Mexico manufacture fentanyl and launder cartel profits through state-owned banks, describing it as a “Chinese attack” on America. Schweizer warned that easing tariffs without verified Chinese action would repeat past mistakes and insisted that accountability must precede trade relief.
“Over 90% of the people that are dying of fentanyl overdoses don’t even know they’re taking fentanyl. They think they’re taking a Vicodin or an Adderall,” Schweizer said. “This is very intentional by China… Unless China pays a price for what they are doing, they are going to continue to do it because it’s a way of waging war on the United States while avoiding responsibility.”
The financial incentives for China are too strong. “It’s also profitable because a lot of the drug networks in Mexico are involved, but so are Chinese criminal networks,” Schweizer told Fox Business. “And we know that some of these networks of Chinese organized crime are tied to the CCP. So, it’s a tangled web and we need to make sure that they pay a price until they change their behavior.”
He also called out China’s surveillance control of WeChat, used by Mexican cartels, urging economic pressure until tangible cooperation occurs.
