US 2024 hopeful Haley calls for China trade curbs over fentanyl deaths
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[June 28, 2023]
By Gram Slattery and Michael Martina
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley staked out one
of the most hawkish positions on China in the 2024 Republican
presidential field on Tuesday, calling for Washington to drastically
limit ties with its geopolitical foe to address a dramatic rise in
overdose deaths attributable to fentanyl in the United States.
"We've tried sanctions but they're not working. We must ratchet up the
pressure. As president, I will push Congress to revoke permanent normal
trade relations until the flow of fentanyl ends," Haley said at a speech
at the American Enterprise Institute, a right-leaning think tank in
Washington.
Some Republicans in Congress have pushed bills to end the preferential
trade status China has enjoyed for decades and require annual
presidential approval for it to receive preferential trade and tariff
terms that other approved countries get.
"If China wants to start normal trade again, it has to stop killing
Americans," she said.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a
request for comment about Haley's remarks.
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China is a major producer of the chemicals that are required to create
fentanyl, which is frequently smuggled over the U.S.-Mexico border.
Haley is well behind in the presidential primary polls, with just 3% of
Republicans planning to vote for her, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll
released earlier in June. She has sought to use foreign policy as a way
to differentiate herself in a crowded Republican field, and her hardline
stance on China could push her rivals to adopt harsher positions too.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse says fentanyl, a powerful synthetic
opioid 50-100 times more potent than morphine, has contributed to a
sharp rise in U.S. drug overdose deaths. Almost 80,000 Americans died
from opioid-related overdoses in 2022, according to the Centers for
Disease Control.
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U.S. Republican presidential candidate
Nikki Haley delivers a foreign policy speech on China during a forum
at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, U.S., June 27,
2023. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
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U.S. officials say the fentanyl issue has been a top priority in
talks with Beijing even as relations between the geopolitical rivals
have plumbed their lowest depths in decades.
They say China's government has not been cooperative in recent years
in helping to crackdown on the flow of fentanyl precursor chemicals
or on money laundering related to trafficking.
But Beijing has countered that Washington should stop using the
fentanyl crisis as a pretext to sanction Chinese companies, and
Chinese state media have repeatedly said addiction and demand for
the drug are U.S. domestic problems.
Several candidates vying for the 2024 Republican presidential
nomination have adopted a confrontational stance toward China,
though Haley appears to be upping the ante by putting forth a series
of aggressive, specific policy proposals.
Haley and other Republican candidates are tapping into a deep
distrust of China held by the American public. Some 82% of American
adults expressed an unfavorable opinion of China, according to a Pew
Research Center poll from last year.
Haley also pledged to shut down a pathway for the export of certain
sensitive technologies to China from the United States.
(Reporting by Gram Slattery and Michael Martina, editing by Ross
Colvin and Alistair Bell)
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