On Thursday, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) urged Beijing to curb the flow of precursor chemicals into Mexico, which are used by drug cartels to produce fentanyl.
“China is not doing enough to halt the stream of chemicals that Mexican drug cartels use to produce fentanyl, the destructive drug that has supercharged the opioid crisis raging in communities across America,” Whitehouse stated.
In a letter addressed to the Chinese embassy in Washington, the senators demanded that China expand its information sharing on the flow of nonscheduled chemicals and designer precursor chemicals.
They urged China to tighten the enforcement of agreements for the proper labeling of overseas shipments and to implement customer due diligence standards to prevent such chemicals from being illegally diverted….