Washington: The Trump administration has initiated a crackdown on the illegal import of fentanyl and also linked it with tariff adjustments in the case of some countries. The US has named China and India as the primary sources for “illicit fentanyl precursor chemicals and pill pressing equipment”.

US National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing in Washington on Tuesday said: “According to the Annual Threat Assessment report of the US Intelligence Community, fentanyl and other synthetic opioids are the most lethal drugs trafficked into the United States, causing more than 52,000 US deaths in 12 months ending in October 2024.”

“This represents a nearly 33 percent decrease in synthetic opioid-related overdose deaths compared to the same reporting time frame the previous year, according to CDC provisional data, and may be because of the availability and accessibility of naloxone,” the report released by the Office of Director of National Intelligence stated.

“Nonstate groups are often enabled, both directly and indirectly, by state actors, such as China and India as sources of precursors and equipment for drug traffickers,” the report stated in its foreword. On March 21, an India-based chemical manufacturing company and three of its high-level employees were charged in a federal court in Washington DC in a case related to illegally importing precursor chemicals used to make illicit fentanyl. According to report, Federal agents also arrested two of the top-ranking employees of Hyderabad-based Vasudha Pharma Chem Limited (VPC) in New York City. Fentanyl is a potent opioid drug that is blamed for widespread drug addiction in the US.

The Trump administration has initiated a crackdown on the illegal import of fentanyl and also linked it with tariff adjustments in the case of some countries. According to another report, in his executive order on the first 10% tariff, Trump had accused China of subsidizing chemical companies to export fentanyl and related “precursor chemicals” and of providing a safe haven for Chinese criminal organisations that launder the revenues from the opioid trade.

The amount of fentanyl seized at the US-Mexico border fell dramatically since January to its lowest level since December 2021, Bloomberg quoted the new US Customs and Border Protection data.