Bipartisan Senate Bill Seeks to Curb Flow of Fentanyl Into the US From China

China ‘has not done enough to curb the export of these chemicals to Mexican transnational criminal groups,’ Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said.

(L–R) Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) speaks with Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) before the start of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing for then-Sen. Marco Rubio for the secretary of state post, in Washington, on Jan. 15, 2025. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

Bipartisan legislation aimed at stopping the flow of fentanyl and its precursors into the United States was recently introduced in the Senate, with the aim of holding Chinese entities accountable for exporting these drugs.

Sens. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), chairman and ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee respectively, introduced the Break Up Suspicious Transactions of Fentanyl Act on March 6. The legislation does not link to tariffs but aims to give the U.S. president more authority to impose sanctions on China’s state-owned or state-controlled entities, including financial institutions, for contributing to fentanyl trafficking.