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Zhao Ziwen

Donald Trump’s move labelling fentanyl a “weapon of mass destruction” is unlikely to disrupt Sino-US relations, but it expands Washington’s China policy toolbox and could inject uncertainty in ties over the long term, according to analysts.
On Monday, the American president signed an executive order designating illicit fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, as a weapon of mass destruction, calling the drug “closer to a chemical weapon than a narcotic”.
Without naming names, the order highlighted the national security threat posed by drug trafficking networks and cartels. It framed their activities as associated with terrorism and warned of “the potential for fentanyl to be weaponised for concentrated, large-scale terror attacks”.
Some of America’s highest officials, including the secretaries of state, defence and homeland security, have been called on to help tackle the issue, according to the order.
Meanwhile, Canada seeks to work more closely with China to stop fentanyl precursors from reaching North America, according to Kevin Brosseau, Ottawa’s fentanyl tsar, in an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday.
“We’re looking to collaborate with China because it’s not an indictment against the Chinese government, per se,” Brosseau said.

However, Beijing was not mentioned in the new US order, despite Washington’s long-standing accusations that China has played a pivotal role in America’s fentanyl crisis.
Tony Zhao Xiuye, a predoctoral fellow at the Centre for Contemporary China and the World at the University of Hong Kong, said the executive order was “not necessarily bad for China” because Beijing and Washington were now cooperating on drug issues.
“If China and the United States can score political points and if [fentanyl] cooperation is something Trump can use in next year’s midterm elections, that could be very positive for China,” Zhao added, referring to America’s congressional and state-level races.
But he said Beijing also needed to consider the policy’s long-term impact.
“If this designation stays the way it is, we never know what the next crisis might be,” Zhao said. “Maybe one day, for domestic political reasons, Trump will use China and fentanyl issues as a scapegoat again.”
And given the formal designation, the “potential danger” of damage to Sino-US relations “would be further elevated”, he added.
Under US law, the definition of a “weapon of mass destruction” is broad, encompassing chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive weapons. Discussions about adding fentanyl to the list date back to Trump’s first administration, coinciding with heightened confrontations between Beijing and Washington over the drug.
Although the actual impact of such an order is unclear, use of the label has paved the way for large-scale military action in the past.
In 2003, for example, the George W. Bush administration justified the US-led invasion of Iraq in part by asserting that Baghdad possessed or was actively developing weapons of mass destruction.
While China is the world’s top source of fentanyl precursor chemicals, Latin American countries are now Washington’s main target, and the region is blamed for producing and trafficking drugs, including fentanyl.
The order follows Trump’s approval of unprecedented air strikes on suspected drug-carrying vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, originating from or allegedly linked to Venezuela. More than 90 people have been killed since September.


On Monday, the US Southern Command announced that the American military had engaged three more alleged drug boats in the eastern Pacific, killing eight people.
For the Trump administration, Zhao said, the order was “one more excuse to launch more military actions in Latin America, as you have witnessed in Venezuela right now, [and] it gives them a bigger excuse and more legitimate way to use force against the countries”.
Josef Gregory Mahoney, a professor of politics and international relations at East China Normal University, agreed that Latin America, particularly Venezuela and Mexico, was targeted by the order. He noted it could be used to “justify” the invasion of countries the White House deemed responsible for drug production and trafficking.
Still, with Beijing and Washington showing some uncertainty over anti-fentanyl cooperation, Trump’s order could pose risks to bilateral relations if existing joint efforts were to break down.
US-China cooperation on fentanyl has been intermittent since the first Trump administration, with efforts frequently suspended.
Beijing’s initial crackdown began after Trump met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Argentina in 2018.
Cooperation all but ceased after then US House speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in 2022 during the Joe Biden administration, and did not resume until Xi met Biden in California the following year.
Following Xi and Trump’s most recent meeting, in South Korea in October, anti-fentanyl cooperation appears to be back on track, even as America’s 10 per cent tariffs on Chinese imports remain in place.
Beijing has since pledged to stop shipping designated precursors to North America and to tighten global export controls.
Mahoney said it seemed that Trump was “trying to accumulate new points of leverage against China”, but “because Trump rarely honours the terms of a deal that he himself has concluded, we should not be surprised if the fentanyl issue returns as a concern at some point for China-US relations”.
Pang Zhongying, an international affairs expert at Sichuan University, echoed that view, saying that if anti-drug cooperation between Beijing and Washington fell short, Trump could look for an “external explanation” and “weaponise” fentanyl issues.
“That said, I believe the two sides will continue to cooperate,” Pang added. “The issue has become a shared challenge and is comparatively easier for both sides to work on together.”


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US President Donald Trump signs an executive order designating fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, as a weapon of mass destruction, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Monday. Photo: EPA

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The crude oil tanker Skipper, which was seized by the US military off the coast of Venezuela last week. Photo Vantor via AP

 Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro. Photo: Reuters

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US Navy EA-18G Growler aircraft prepare for take-off in Ceiba, Puerto Rico on December 12. Photo: Reuters

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US President Donald Trump with his signed executive order classifying fentanyl as a ‘weapon of mass destruction’. Photo: Reuters

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US Customs and Border Protection display plastic bags of fentanyl after being seized at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. US lawmakers say Chinese money brokers and Latin American cartels have merged their operations into a system that blurs the line between trade and trafficking. Photo: Reuters

Former US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen remarked in 2021 that ‘the best place to hide and launder ill-gotten gains is actually the United States’.  Photo: EPA-EFE

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Formal designation in new executive order ‘not necessarily bad’ for Beijing amid cooperation with Washington on drug issues, analysts say


Formal designation in new executive order ‘not necessarily bad’ for Beijing amid cooperation with Washington on drug issues, analysts say.


How will US-China ties fare with Trump calling fentanyl a ‘weapon of mass destruction’?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Formal designation in new executive order ‘not necessarily bad’ for Beijing amid cooperation with Washington on drug issues, analysts say

Formal designation in new executive order ‘not necessarily bad’ for Beijing amid cooperation with Washington on drug issues, analysts say