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Heroin bags, some of which are lined with fentanyl, are on display before a press conference on a major drug case, at the New York Attorney General's office on September 23, 2016 in New York.
Drew Angerer | Getty Images
US and Chinese officials held a conference call "Thursday in Beijing" during which Beijing announced that it was making progress in reducing fentanyl shipments out, according to three sources familiar with the issue, citing the president's priorities. Donald Trump. is trying to get the White House lower tariffs.
In the appeal, these sources said the Chinese authorities have reiterated their desire to lower tariffs, with 15% of tariffs expected to reach $ 112 billion worth of goods on Sunday, and existing tariffs to increase by $ 250 billion. a month later.
It is not clear whether the president considered the evidence provided by China – that CNBC could not have learned – as sufficient progress. While leaving the White House for Camp David on Friday night, he told reporters that the next set of fees was still in effect.
It is unclear whether the level of detail provided by China on halting fentanyl exports would be enough to induce President Trump to lower the tariffs that his staff say would be his most effective policy tool.
Fentanyl has been a top priority for the White House in its fight against the opioid crisis.
The stopping of China's drug shipment to the United States was a focus of the two leaders' conversation during their meeting at the G-20 in Buenos Aires in late 2018.
At a bilateral dinner, President Xi Jinping pledged to reclassify fentanyl and related drugs as "controlled substances" and to impose a maximum penalty on any person caught making or sell these drugs.
Trump has accused Xi of not doing enough since then to stop the flow of illicit drugs into the United States.
At a briefing this week, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that it was "baseless and false" that China is the main source of fentanyl in the United States and that the United States is the only source of fentanyl in the United States. do not do enough to stop drug demand among domestic consumers.
"With 5% of the world's total population, the United States consumes 80% of the opioid drugs in the world," Australian government spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters on August 29th. "If the United States really wants to solve its fentanyl problem, they should fend for themselves."
The White House has not responded to a request for comment.
The US Trade Representative and the Treasury Department declined to comment.
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