00:00We have some tremendous news thanks to President Donald J. Trump once again for the American people.
00:05As soon as the President of the United States took office, he issued a mandate to rid America
00:09of the scourge that is fentanyl, a drug that has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans.
00:14Thanks to his leadership and direct engagements with China, we set up a framework to execute that
00:19mission eight months ago. Attorney General Bondi immediately thereafter took steps to engage her
00:24counterpart in China at the Ministry of Public Security. Pursuant to their direct discussions,
00:28as the FBI director designated to run counterpoint on this, along with the Secretary of State Rubio
00:35and Ambassador Perdue and the team here at the White House, we set forward a path
00:39to implement the policy needed to crush the plague of fentanyl. Deputy Attorney General Blanche and our
00:46teams have been hard at work ever since, ultimately culminating in my trip to Beijing last week.
00:52This was only possible due to President Trump's historic engagement with President Xi,
00:58just a few short weeks ago, that set the stage for today's announcement.
01:03At that meeting, the leaders reached an agreement. But just to put this in frame for the American
01:08people, a reminder here that nearly 100,000 people died of fentanyl overdoses just last year alone.
01:16Here, this year, under this President, the FBI has seized 1,900 kilograms of fentanyl.
01:22So far, that is a 31% increase from the same time period last year. To put it in perspective,
01:29that's enough fentanyl to kill 127 million Americans. Fentanyl precursors are what makes up
01:37fentanyl. While we, the interagency, the Department of Justice, have been fighting hard
01:42to seize and stop drug traffickers, we must attack fentanyl precursors, the ingredients necessary to make
01:48this lethal drug. That was the sole purpose of my trip to China, to eliminate these precursors.
01:55And if successful, we would suffocate the drug trafficking organization's ability to manufacture
02:01fentanyl in places like Mexico. This was the first time an FBI director has been to China in over a
02:07decade and received the audience with his counterpart to address this matter directly. And again, thanks to
02:14President Trump's direct engagement with President Xi, the government of China committed fully to my
02:19engagement there on the ground in Beijing at a level never seen before. While at Ministry of Public
02:26Security headquarters, I met with my counterpart at MPS, where the Chinese government agreed on a plan
02:33to stop fentanyl precursors. What does that mean? The People's Republic of China has fully designated
02:40and listed all 13 precursors utilized to make fentanyl. Furthermore, they have agreed to control
02:46seven chemical subsidiaries that are also utilized to produce this lethal drug. Effective immediately,
02:53essentially, President Trump has shut off the pipeline that creates fentanyl that kills tens of
03:02thousands of Americans. These substances are now banned, and they will no longer be utilized by the
03:08Mexican drug trafficking organizations or any other DTOs around the world to make this drug.
03:14This historic achievement has saved tens of thousands of lives. This historic achievement
03:20would not have been possible without the tremendous team of President Trump, the Attorney General,
03:25the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Ambassador Perdue in China,
03:30whose ground-level engagements were imperative to achieving this result. This is yet another example
03:36of how President Trump defends the American people, provides security for the American people,
03:41and puts the American people first. This is a historic, first-in-its-kind achievement by any
03:47president to stop the scourge of fentanyl, and it should be championed by every single American.
03:54This achievement will save lives. We are thankful for President Trump's steadfast leadership,
03:59and this FBI will fearlessly follow in his footsteps to ensure that this mission of safeguarding the American
04:05public is achieved every single day.
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