US-China Fentanyl Talks Begin, Spurred by Biden and Xi’s Support

The Biden administration is optimistic that President Xi Jinping’s instructions to Chinese officials will lead to real progress on the fentanyl crisis, a State Department official said Friday, but more needs to be done to stem the flow of the deadly synthetic opioids into the US.

“There was an overall feeling that we have been given marching orders by our presidents to make this work,” Todd Robinson, assistant secretary of state for international narcotics and law enforcement, said Friday in describing the opening meeting this week of a US-China counter-narcotics working group that was formed after President Joe Biden met Xi in California in November.