MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Tuesday he had sent a letter to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping urging him to help control shipments of the synthetic opioid fentanyl sent across the Pacific.
Lopez Obrador read out the letter during a news conference in which he defended his country’s efforts to curb trafficking of the lethal drug in the face of U.S. criticism.
Fentanyl has been blamed for fueling a surge in overdose deaths in the U.S., and Republican lawmakers have accused the Mexican government of not doing enough to stop drug cartels trafficking the powerful painkiller into the United States.
Some Republicans have urged Washington to authorize the use of military force in Mexico to tackle the problem, a suggestion that has been vigorously rejected by Lopez Obrador.
U.S. and Mexican officials argue that the ingredients used to make fentanyl are chiefly sent from Asia, but Lopez Obrador argues Mexico is not a production hub of the drug.
(Reporting by Dave Graham; Editing by Brendan O’Boyle)
