China is making a high-profile move on fentanyl enforcement right before Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump sit down for their second summit of the year in Washington. The country's Supreme People's Court, Supreme People's Procuratorate, and Ministry of Public Security jointly issued new guidelines clarifying how criminal cases involving fentanyl-related substances should be handled — covering everything from smuggling and trafficking to internet-facilitated crimes.

The guidelines divide fentanyl-related substances into medicinal and non-pharmaceutical categories and set clearer quantitative thresholds for conviction and sentencing. Separately, China also added two piperidone compounds — structurally related to a known fentanyl precursor — to its export control list, requiring permits for shipments to the US, Mexico, and Canada.

Key Takeaways:

• China has expanded its drug precursor export control list multiple times since 2025 — in May, November, and again in September 2026 — each time coinciding with US-China diplomatic meetings.
• The Trump administration has long pressured Beijing to curb the flow of fentanyl precursor chemicals, which are largely synthesized into the deadly opioid on US soil.
• China maintains its counter-narcotics laws are among the world's strictest and frames fentanyl as primarily a US domestic issue.

Why it matters: Fentanyl remains the leading driver of overdose deaths in the US, and the supply chain runs through Chinese-made precursor chemicals. These enforcement moves — timed to diplomatic summits — signal that fentanyl control has become a central bargaining chip in US-China relations, with real public health consequences on both sides.