Overview

• Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on July 17 that the United States must solve its own fentanyl crisis and criticized US tariffs for undermining narcotics cooperation
• President Trump signed the HALT Act on July 16, permanently classifying fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I and imposing a mandatory minimum 10-year prison term for traffickers
• In a Chicago federal court on July 11, cartel leader Ovidio Guzmán López admitted supervising large-scale fentanyl production and trafficking to the United States
• Journalistic and official reports confirm Mexican cartels have relied on chemical precursors sourced from China to manufacture illicit fentanyl in clandestine laboratories
• Overdose deaths in the US fell by 27% to 80,400 in 2024, but fentanyl remained responsible for 60% of all drug-related fatalities