00:02Last year, we seized over 47 million fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills
00:08and nearly 100,000 pounds of fentanyl powder coming into our country,
00:14representing almost 369 million lethal doses of fentanyl.
00:22Yet, almost 80,000 American lives were lost to drug overdoses
00:29and poisonings.
00:32This includes cocaine and methamphetamine laced with illicit fentanyl.
00:37In response, the U.S. has recently designated fentanyl and its precursors,
00:44weapons of mass destruction.
00:47Cartels and dealers see fentanyl as another way to boost their profits,
00:52even at the risk of some of their customers dropping dead.
00:56Because adulteration with this substance enhances addiction.
01:02These bad actors, and we know there are many, are waging a chemical war.
01:08A war they can easily fight by putting in minimal effort to skirt still nascent regulations
01:17on fentanyl and other deadly precursor chemicals.
01:20But we know where the chemical precursors are coming from.
01:26They are manufactured by the millions of tons in China.
01:32We know they move through the global supply chain.
01:36We know that China's weak export controls and lax enforcement
01:43allow its chemical industry to foster friendships with the cartels.
01:50At the same time, China's overly effective controls over rare earth minerals
01:56wreak havoc on legitimate industries.
02:00And we are working tirelessly to halt the trade of precursors at its source.
02:08Not only to protect American lives, but to protect the lives of the citizens of the world.
02:16This forum is an opportunity for the nations of the world to band together
02:21and to combat not only narcotics, but criminal enterprises and their funding mechanisms.
02:28Their allies in places of power, their disrespect for the law, and their terror over our citizens.
02:36Their advantage is that they do not have to play by any rules,
02:41and they don't have anyone to answer to.
02:44But our advantage is our ability to work together, to respect the law,
02:52to leverage the talents and good character of all of our citizens,
02:57and to pull our might to target those bringing about this deadly destruction.
03:05If our joint goal is truly a peaceful world and thriving, healthy citizenry,
03:12then we cannot let the cancers that aim to destroy us continue to prosper.
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