Kash Patel Details China Trip Pressuring ‘Number One Adversary,’ New Actions To Ensure Fentanyl Crisis Is ‘Turned Off’

FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo on Sunday the fentanyl crisis facing the U.S. is nearing being “turned off” as President Donald Trump’s administration puts the onus on China, the main source of ingredients used to make the deadly opioid.

Patel discussed his November visit to China on “Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo” and stated the Trump administration seeks to end a problem the Biden administration largely ignored. Bartiromo asked Patel what he accomplished during his “one or two-day” trip to Beijing, reportedly becoming the first FBI director in a decade to visit the Communist nation.

“Look, we set this in motion — we under President Trump’s leadership and strong leadership — in engaging [Chinese] President Xi Jinping on the fentanyl crisis,” Patel said. “Let’s just put this in perspective: the prior administration, the Biden administration, allowed hundreds and hundreds of thousands of Americans to be killed by opiates alone. That is a national security crisis of epic proportions.”

“President Trump comes in, engages his counterpart, Xi Jinping, and says, ‘We’ve got to address this.’ Puts Attorney General Pam Bondi and the DOJ [Department of Justice] in motion, sets up engagements over the last eight-to-nine months and designates the FBI director to go there and make sure this deal is solidified. And that is the reason that I, as the first director in 10 years, landed in Beijing, China,” Patel continued.

“This opioid crisis is going to be turned off. Americans are no longer going to lose their life to manufactured synthesis opioids like fentanyl,” the FBI chief stressed.

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There were over 70,000 reported deaths related to synthetic opioids in both 2022 and 2023, according to data from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). These deaths were primarily from fentanyl overdoses, according to the NIH. Unintentional injuries, a category which mostly includes drug overdose and poisoning, was by far the leading cause of death for Americans under the age of 45 in 2023, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“Where else is China interfering? What do we need to understand best about our number one adversary?” Bartiromo asked Patel.

“Look, we can talk about the espionage and other activities, but we have taken a huge step here. No one has bothered to engage China. The Biden administration didn’t even do it. And fentanyl … it’s not like cocaine or marijuana where it starts naturally in a growhouse or grow facility or grow yards and then is produced into an ultimate chemical and drug. Fentanyl is purely chemically created,” Patel explained.

“If you take the ingredients, these precursors … and you shut off their flow, then the Mexican drug cartels cannot make it. It’s that simple. And Biden could have listed one or two or three of the precursors — zero. Trump got it done listing all 13 precursors and restricting all seven chemicals, essentially shutting off the pipeline that allows the Mexican drug traffickers to create fentanyl,” Patel continued. “And we went there and we got the agreement solidified, and it’s already in place. And we’re going see immediate results and immediate American lives saved by the hundreds of thousands.”

Days after Patel’s visit, China’s Ministry of Commerce said the country will implement stricter regulations of chemicals used to make fentanyl.

Shortly following his meeting with Xi in late October 2025, Trump wrote on Truth Social that “China has strongly stated that they will work diligently” with his administration to “stop the flow of Fentanyl [sic]” into the U.S.