China says US concerns about fentanyl controls ‘resolved’ after promise to Trump

Chinese officials said Monday that U.S. concerns about fentanyl controls have been “resolved” after promising President Trump to address them, according to Reuters.

Beijing will reportedly also consider products related to the synthetic opioid as controlled narcotics.

The Ministry of Public Security, the National Health Commission and the National Medical Products Administration said in a joint statement that the addition to the list of narcotics will occur May 1, the news service noted.

{mosads}Fentanyl has been a major point of conflict in U.S.-China trade negotiations, and Trump has criticized China for allowing the substance to be shipped to the U.S., which is facing an epidemic of opioid-related deaths.

The White House said after a trade meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Argentina last December that Xi had agreed to designate fentanyl as a controlled substance.

“Resolved. All resolved,” Liu Yuejin, a senior public security ministry official and vice commissioner of the China National Narcotics Control Commission, told reporters on Monday when asked if U.S. concerns had been fixed, according to Reuters.

Liu also said, however, that the amount of fentanyl coming from China to the United States was “extremely limited” and that U.S. criticisms of China being the main source of the drug “lack evidence,” the news service reported.

“We believe that the United States itself is the main factor in the abuse of fentanyl there,” Liu said, adding that American culture was partly to blame.