The US will lift restrictions on a Chinese agency accused of human-rights violations in exchange for Beijing’s planned crackdown on the fentanyl trade, according to a Biden administration official.

Joe Biden’s deal with Xi Jinping to curb production of illicit fentanyl, a deadly synthetic drug, was one of the main achievements for the US president resulting from his high-stakes meeting with the Chinese leader in California this week.

China’s Ministry of Public Security’s Institute for Forensic Science, a national network of crime labs, will see restrictions on access to US technology lifted as part of the agreement, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the deal.

The curbs, put in place in 2020 by former President Donald Trump, prohibited the institute from doing business with US companies due to its alleged human-rights violations against ethnic Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang region.

Removing the institute from the Commerce Department’s trade blacklist was the only way for the US to make progress with China on the fentanyl issue, the administration official said. The official called the US concession a modest step and cited other authorities, like financial sanctions, that remain in place to address human-rights issues.

Bloomberg News on Monday first reported on the deal, including the US concessions.

In return, China agreed to issue a notice to its domestic industries reminding them about legal restrictions on the manufacture and export of fentanyl, precursor chemicals and pill-press equipment used to make the drug.

Chinese authorities have also begun to take law enforcement actions against synthetic-drug and chemical-precursor suppliers, according to a White House fact sheet.

“As a result, certain PRC-based pharmaceutical companies have ceased operations and have had some international payment accounts blocked,” the fact sheet said, using an acronym for China.

China’s National Narcotics Control Commission issued a notice dated Thursday about tightening the controls on narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and drug-making materials, according to the website of the Ministry of Public Security.

Health Crisis

The fentanyl issue is a priority for Biden, who has faced criticism from Republicans over his administration’s handling of the issue ahead of the 2024 election. Fentanyl addiction and deaths have spiked for the last decade, becoming a major problem across the US.

Biden hailed the agreement as a key step toward stemming the opioid epidemic after his four-hour meeting with Xi outside San Francisco.

“That’s a big movement,” Biden said of the deal during a news conference Wednesday. “It’s going to save lives, and I appreciate President Xi’s commitment on this issue.”

He added that the two leaders asked their teams “to maintain policy and law enforcement coordination going forward to make sure it works.”

Human Rights

House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, said Biden did not receive enough assurances from China.

“The Biden administration made concessions to get this meeting — only to make more concessions – including the removal of an organization from the entity list known to conduct human rights abuses,” McCaul said in a Thursday statement.

State Department spokesman Matt Miller defended the administration’s human-rights record and said Biden raised specific concerns about China’s violations with Xi.

“We have to make tough decisions in this administration and the decision that we made was that when you looked at the potential of saving American lives by securing this cooperation with China on fentanyl trafficking, it was an appropriate step to take,” Miller told reporters.

It is not clear if the administration would reimpose the entity listing on the forensics institute if Beijing does not abide by the agreement.

Asked if he trusted Xi to follow through on his commitments, Biden said: “Look, do I trust? You know, I — ‘trust but verify,’ as the old saying goes. That’s where I am.”

--With assistance from Iain Marlow, James Mayger and Jessica Sui.

(Updates with Chinese statement in 10th paragraph.)