China restricts drug precursor exports to North America
Washington had maintained a 10% tariff on Chinese goods in retaliation for the country's alleged role in the fentanyl supply chain.
Liquid fentanyl
(AFP) China on Friday imposed controls on the export to North America of three chemicals used to make drugs, in the heat of growing cooperation by Washington and Beijing against drug trafficking.
From now on, it will be necessary to obtain licenses from government agencies to export these chemicals to the United States, Canada and Mexico, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a statement quoted by AFP.
The vast majority of the precursors used to manufacture fentanyl, a highly potent opioid that has sparked a deadly drug epidemic in the U.S., come from China.
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Washington had maintained a 10% tariff on Chinese goods in retaliation for the country's alleged role in the fentanyl supply chain.
Beijing's new restrictions came a week after Chinese President Xi Jinping and his counterpart Donald Trump met in Beijing, where they attempted to stabilize the two countries' troubled relations.
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In April, Beijing and Washington collaborated on a drug trafficking case, with investigations in China's Guangdong and Liaoning provinces, and in the U.S. states of Florida and Nevada, according to China's state-run Xinhua news agency.
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