WASHINGTON—When President Donald Trump signs the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2020, China could face new pressure to live up to its as-yet-unfulfilled promise to crack down on exports of the deadly drug fentanyl drug to the United States.
The 973-page NDAA, which the Senate adopted June 27 in a rare 86–8 show of unanimity in the upper chamber, authorizes $750 billion in national security spending, including provisions to:
- Require imposition of sanctions on drug manufacturers in China that knowingly provide synthetic opioids to traffickers, transnational criminal organizations such as those in Mexico that mix fentanyl with other drugs and traffic them into the United States, and financial institutions that assist such entities.
- Authorize waivers for countries that take sufficient action to implement and enforce regulations on synthetic opioid production.
- Authorize new funding to law enforcement and intelligence agencies, including the departments of Defense, State, and Treasury, to combat the foreign trafficking of synthetic opioids.
- Urge Trump to launch diplomatic efforts with U.S. partners to establish multilateral sanctions against foreign synthetic opioid traffickers.
- Establish a commission on synthetic opioid trafficking to monitor U.S. efforts and report on how to more effectively combat the flow of synthetic opioids from China, Mexico, and elsewhere.
