A group of families whose loved ones died of fentanyl overdoses filed a petition on Thursday with the office of Katherine Tai, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), requesting a probe into China's alleged role in fueling the U.S. synthetic opioid crisis. The petition was filed under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, a statute that allows the U.S. to impose sanctions on foreign countries that violate trade agreements or hurt U.S. commerce -- any interested person can file a petition, and USTR must decide within 45 days whether to initiate a probe. The families are seeking trade countermeasures that include tariffs of at least $50 billion on Chinese merchandise, Reuters reports. The petition alleges that China's government has failed to crack down on exports of precursors used by traffickers to manufacture illicit fentanyl, inaction that has cost the U.S. trillions of dollars in lost productivity, higher health care costs, increased law enforcement spending, and loss of life due to fatal overdoses from the synthetic drug.
A 2022 analysis by the congressional Joint Economic Committee estimated that the opioid crisis cost the U.S. nearly $1.5 trillion in 2020. Overdoses from synthetic opioids killed nearly 75,000 people in the U.S. last year alone and are approaching a half-million fatalities over the past decade, government figures show.
Nazak Nikakhtar, an attorney at the Wiley Rein law firm who filed the petition on behalf of the families, told Reuters the issue was "squarely" within USTR's legal authority given the debilitating effects of fentanyl addiction on the American workforce and the U.S. economy. "China responds to economic pressure. We're going to put economic pressure on China," said Nikakhtar, a former Commerce Department official. Reuters investigations this year have revealed that Chinese chemical companies openly sell fentanyl-making ingredients on the internet and ship them to the U.S. with ease, thanks, in part, to an obscure U.S. trade regulation, known as de minimis, which allows low-value packages to enter the U.S. duty free and with minimal paperwork and inspections. A USTR spokesperson said the agency is reviewing the petition.
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