Vance, Brown call for action against China over fentanyl crisis

As the fentanyl crisis continues to claim thousands of lives across the country, senators are calling for more forceful efforts to slow China’s role in producing the deadly synthetic version of the drug.

“We should be willing to say [to China], ‘If you don't stop sending fentanyl precursors to Mexico and to our own ports of entry, we're going to really penalize you guys economically.’ That is the real tool,” Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) said during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday.

“We're not going to invade China because they're sending fentanyl into our country. We can increase tariffs and extract a massive economic cost. I think the Biden administration should be doing exactly that,” Vance told NBC’s Chuck Todd.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, Vance’s Democratic counterpart in Ohio, agreed.

"I don't know if we can quantify the dollars and the wealth that that produces for China. I wouldn't be surprised if that's what they're actually doing," Brown said of China. “I think it's important that, you know, that we hit them.”

“These sanctions, if done right, cost them a lot of money. … We've got to go after all sources that are financing this and that are laundering these drugs,” he added.

Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Anne Milgram also called out the PRC for its role in the crisis, though she added that the DEA will “stand ready” to work with other countries.

“For about the past year, we have not had the cooperation that we want to have,” Milgram said on “Meet the Press,” noting that the recent conversations Secretary of State Antony Blinken had with Chinese leaders during his trip to Beijing about the issue “are very important.”

Vance also called for stronger military action from the White House in going after drug cartels.

“I want to empower the president of the United States, whether that's a Democrat or Republican, to use the power of the U.S. military to go after these drug cartels,” Vance told Todd.

Vance is not alone in calling for the use of force to stem the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. Former President Donald Trump has talked of sending “special forces” and using “cyber warfare” to target cartel leaders if he’s elected president in 2024, and according to a Rolling Stone report asked for “battle plans” to strike Mexico while in office. Reps. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) and Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) introduced a bill to authorize the use of military force to “put us at war with the cartels.” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said he is open to sending U.S. troops into Mexico to target cartels. And some prominent Republicans have called for bombing drug cartels in Mexico.

Vance also said in the interview that the U.S. should tighten economic pressures on Mexico, claiming that it would help U.S. workers in the long term.

“You really want to help American companies? Stop the flow of this poison that's making our workforce and our entire country more desperate and less able to get up and go to work,” he said.