FBI Director Kash Patel announced at a White House briefing on Nov. 12 that he had just returned from a visit to Beijing, where he had reached an agreement that China will “ban” the export of 13 chemical precursors used in producing fentanyl. He acknowledged that his visit and the precursor agreement, which he called “historic,” were the fruit of the Oct. 30 summit between China’s President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump in South Korea.
Reaching the agreement was the “sole purpose” of his trip, he said. “This was the first time an FBI director has been to China in over a decade…. Thanks to President Trump’s direct engagement with President Xi, the government of China committed fully to my engagement there on the ground in Beijing at a level never seen before,” he told reporters.
He reported that Beijing has now “fully designated and listed all 13 precursors utilized to make fentanyl” and agreed to the further “control” of “7 chemical subsidiaries that are also utilized to produce this lethal drug, effective immediately. These substances are now banned, and they will no longer be utilized by the Mexican drug trafficking organizations … to make this drug,” Patel stated.
