Washington, DC [US], October 24 (ANI): United States President Donald Trump on Thursday took a tough stance on China’s alleged role in smuggling fentanyl into the US via Venezuela, saying the drug will be a top issue when he meets Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Trump accused China of using Venezuela as a transit point for fentanyl shipments that evade US and Mexican port controls. During a White House press interaction, he said the first question he would ask Xi would be about fentanyl. “I’m meeting with President Xi… The first question I’m going to be asking him about is fentanyl. They make $100 million selling fentanyl into our country. They lose $100 billion with the 20% tariff. So it’s not a good business proposition… It’s one of the things we’re talking about… They pay a very big penalty for doing that… We’ll see what happens at the end of next week… I’m meeting with President Xi, actually, in South Korea,” he said.
Trump is scheduled to meet Xi on October 30 on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Busan, South Korea. The meeting is the first in-person encounter between the two leaders since 2019 and comes amid heightened economic and geopolitical tensions, including planned US tariff increases on Chinese imports.
Responding to questions about whether China was smuggling fentanyl via Venezuela, Trump said, “They are doing that. But they are paying a 20% tariff right now because of fentanyl. That’s billions and billions of dollars. On November 1st, the tariff on China rises to 157%, a record-setting level. It’s not sustainable for them.”
Trump said he will inform Congress of plans to target land-based cartel targets in Venezuela as the administration considers expanding its seaborne military campaign. “We’re going to go [to Congress]. I don’t see any loss in going — no reason not to,” he told reporters, saying he expects congressional support. He added that the administration wants action, not just talk, to curb the flow of fentanyl into the United States.
Addressing enforcement, Trump turned to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and said, “I’d like just to tell you, ‘Let’s go.’ We’ll go. We’re going to tell them what we’re going to do, and I think they’re going to probably like it, except for the radical left lunatics.”
Trump has threatened land-based strikes for weeks after his administration began targeting vessels allegedly smuggling drugs off Venezuela’s Caribbean coast on Sept. 2. “I don’t think we’re going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war. I think we’re just going to kill people who are bringing drugs into our country. Okay? We’re going to kill them, you know, they’re going to be like dead, okay?” he said.
Trump asserted that his campaign against drug cartels, combined with his upcoming meeting with Xi, will help reduce overdose deaths in the US, which federal data show have surged in recent years. He said Chinese manufacturers are routing fentanyl through Venezuela to bypass tightened US and Mexican port controls; federal figures attribute nearly 330,000 American deaths to fentanyl over the past five years. (ANI)
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