US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that the US will work out a deal with China where the latter would give the death penalty to those who transport the fentanyl drug into the US.
PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP SIGNS THE HALT FENTANYL ACT INTO LAW!🇺🇸
“We renew our vow to liberate America from this horrible plague, and we’ll be getting the drug dealers, pushers, and peddlers off our streets, AND WE WILL NOT REST UNTIL WE HAVE ENDED THE DRUG OVERDOSE EPIDEMIC.” pic.twitter.com/HZYDOYxLBN
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 16, 2025
Trump said that the tariffs imposed on China are a penalty to make up for the losses incurred by the US due to the alleged trafficking of the drug. “I have a very good relationship with President Xi of China, but I imposed a 20% tariff on China because of the fentanyl. And I call it a penalty. It’s a penalty because China delivers much of the fentanyl. Some people would say all of it. They deliver it into Mexico and even into our own country,” he said. Trump signed the legislation to amend the Controlled Substances Act regarding the scheduling of fentanyl-related substances.
“We have a 20 per cent [tariff], so they pay billions of dollars and billions of dollars in damages for what they’ve done. And I think we’re going to work it out so that China is going to end up going from that to giving the death penalty to the people that create this fentanyl and send it into our country, whether it’s through other countries or directly,” he added.
Trump further said that such a deal with China should have been signed a long time ago. “I believe that we would have had that deal a long time ago. I shook hands with them, and then we had a rigged election, and we had somebody else come in, and they didn’t know anything about a deal for the death penalty. The death penalty is going to be imposed on people from China who make fentanyl and send it into our country. I believe that’s going to happen soon. But as of today, all fentanyl related substances will be banned forever, and those who traffic in these deadly poisons will be put behind bars for a very long period of time,” he said.
Trump further blamed his predecessor, Joe Biden, for the ‘drug crisis’ that he inherited as the former took office. “Today, we strike a righteous blow to the drug dealers, narcotic traffickers, and criminal cartels… and we take a historic step toward justice for every family touched by the fentanyl scourge… So, six months ago, we came into office and inherited the worst drug crisis in American history by far. They did nothing. For four long years, Joe Biden surrendered our borders to the most evil and vicious traffickers, networks, and everything else on the planet Earth, allowing foreign drug cartels to carve out a massive footprint. On American soil, we were doing nothing,” he said. Trump further alleged that the open border policy allowed the fentanyl flood that allegedly posed a mammoth challenge for law enforcement officers.
“This open borders nightmare flooded our country with fentanyl and with people that shouldn’t be here, some of the worst people on Earth. And illicit drugs decimated American communities and left us with the largest law enforcement challenge in our country’s history, and hopefully will always be the largest. I can’t imagine anything being worse,” he said.
