Trump tries old tactic with China on fentanyl – a new 'working group'

Picture: AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein.

US President Donald Trump began his second term by signaling that talks with China to stop a deadly flow of fentanyl were fruitless and instead slapped 20% tariffs on Chinese goods to try to push Beijing to tackle trafficking of the synthetic opioid.

But last week, after meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea, Trump agreed to slash his fentanyl-related tariffs on China in half in return for a fresh "consensus" on the drug, which U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said would be hashed out via a new bilateral working group.