On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Last Call,” Select Committee on the CCP Ranking Member Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) discussed a report by the committee on China’s role in the fentanyl crisis and stated that the Chinese government subsidizes exports of illicit fentanyl and many of the companies who export fentanyl “actually are controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.”
Krishnamoorthi said that when it comes to fentanyl exports to the U.S. by Chinese companies, the Chinese government, “to charitably put it, [turns] a blind eye and remain[s] unconcerned.”
Krishnamoorthi added that he doesn’t know if China does this on purpose and he doesn’t “have an answer as to what’s inside Xi Jinping’s head or the standing politburo.” But “they certainly know of the companies who receive these…tax rebates, these subsidies for the export of various products, including fentanyl, including illicit fentanyl. Secondly, a lot of these companies actually are controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. In other words, they have stakes, they’re state-owned entities in some cases, or they have what are called golden shares or board seats on those companies’ boards. And then the third thing, which is very disturbing, is that some of these entities receive awards, recognition, other forms of grants from the state for their activities, including their illicit activities, apparently.”
He concluded that we need better sanctions authority and to close or tighten the de minimis loophole to keep fentanyl out of the U.S.
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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