Canada’s Fentanyl Czar Seeks Chinese Help to Stop Precursors

Cabinet minister David McGuinty, center, then Canada's minister of public safety, looks at confiscated items during a tour of a Canada Border Services Agency commercial air cargo facility in February. Canada has ramped up its fight against fentanyl since Donald Trump returned to the White House. Photo by Cole Burston /Photographer: Cole Burston/Bloom

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(Bloomberg) — Canada wants to work more closely with China to stop the chemicals used to create the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl from reaching North America, said Prime Minister Mark Carney’s point person for fighting the opioid crisis.

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“We’re looking to collaborate with China, because it’s not an indictment against the Chinese government, per se,” Kevin Brosseau, the Canadian government’s fentanyl czar, said in an interview. “It’s companies, chemical companies in China, that are engaged in this kind of conduct — and the Chinese government has taken a lot of action in terms of regulating and prohibiting various precursors.”

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US President Donald Trump has used fentanyl trafficking to justify tariffs against Canada and Mexico, though that move is currently being challenged at the Supreme Court. Figures from US Customs and Border Protection suggest that only small amounts of the deadly drug flow into the US from Canada, but Brosseau was named by the government in February to lead a plan for stamping it out. 

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Carney is preparing to visit Chinese President Xi Jinping next year, part of his broader effort to mend ties with the world’s second-biggest economy. Both countries have imposed high tariffs on certain products from the other in a protracted trade fight. 

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Brosseau said Canadian officials revived conversations about working with China to curb fentanyl around the time of his appointment. The government also launched a C$1.3 billion ($944 million) border plan that included new helicopters, drones, and surveillance towers.

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That didn’t deter Trump from levying 25% emergency tariffs on Canada and Mexico with the accusation that “massive” amounts of fentanyl were coming over both US land borders. The White House subsequently upped the base tariff on Canada to 35%, though most goods are exempt if they comply with the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement. 

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Fentanyl seizures at or near the US border with Canada averaged 3.5 pounds per month over the three-year period ended Oct. 31. Seizures of the same drug at or near the border with Mexico averaged a little more than 1,600 pounds a month.

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That said, seizures of the drug in CBP’s northern border region spiked in April and May with a couple of unusually large interceptions. A so-called sprint by law enforcement agencies this year led to 386 kilograms (851 pounds) of fentanyl and 270 kilograms of precursors being seized within Canada — more than 10 times the amount that’s been caught by American agents at or near the US-Canada border so far this year.

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US intelligence agencies have described China as “the primary source country for illicit fentanyl precursor chemicals” and pill-pressing equipment, followed by India. Brosseau said fentanyl precursors come from Asian countries but the drug itself is produced “largely” within North America.

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Fentanyl for the US is made domestically and in Mexico, and fentanyl for Canada is produced in Canada, he said. “There’s very little north-south movement of produced fentanyl across the borders,” he said. Supporting that theory is the fact that opioid overdose rates for Canada and the US have fallen by similar percentages recently, he said.