Chinese media hits back at Trump’s fentanyl claim

Bloomberg

The latest tariff move by the US has “seriously breached” the truce that Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agreed in Japan in late June and isn’t doing any good to trade talks, according to a People’s Daily commentary.
“It deviates from the correct track and is not conducive to solving the problem,” the paper, mouthpiece of the Communist Party said on Saturday. “The Chinese side is strongly dissatisfied and resolutely opposed.”
Donald Trump announced that he would impose a 10% tariff on a further $300 billion in Chinese imports, a move set to hit American consumers more directly than his other tariffs so far. The new duties will be imposed beginning September 1 on a long list of goods expected to include smart-phones, laptop computers and children’s clothing.
“The US’s escalation of trade frictions and tariffs are inconsistent with the interests of the Chinese and American people and the interests of the world and will have a declining impact on the world economy,” according to the commentary. “China is committed to international cooperation, but is not afraid of any extreme pressure.”
In a tweet, Trump said China hadn’t lived up to a promise Xi made in Osaka to buy US agricultural goods and to halt illegal exports of fentanyl.
Chinese companies are making inquiries to buy more American farm products, the paper said. The country is willing to strengthen its cooperation with the US on drug control, and is cracking down on illegal production and smuggling of fentanyl, it said.
The US needs to examine why it has an opioid crisis instead of blaming China, according to the commentary.
“China has adopted stricter controls than the US,” Liu Yuejin, deputy head of China National Narcotics Control Commission, said in an interview on state television CCTV. China has strict controls over 25 types of fentanyl-related substances, which is more than what’s listed by the United Nations, he said.
“The root cause of the fentanyl issue in the US does not lie with China,” China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency.