In response to the illegal import of the opioid fentanyl into the US, US President Donald Trump recently threatened to impose an additional 10 % tariff on goods coming from China.
Fentanyl has emerged as the most recent staging area for a trade war between the country’s two largest economy. China is currently the main producer of the prelude chemicals needed to make fentanyl.
Both China and the US have taken steps to make these chemicals move more effectively. But, Mexico, where fentanyl is produced and then imported into the US, has changed from immediate export to the improper fentanyl network.
Heroin has a long record of damaging battle and trade war, beginning with the First Opium War of 1839-1842, despite the relatively recent class of drugs, including fentanyl.
The Heroin War
In the first half of the 19th century, the English state faced an economic issue. A significant business disparity had resulted from China’s imports of drink, porcelain, and fabric.
Opium grown in areas under British colonial rule was one item that the British were able to exposure in large quantities. The American did morphine flooding the Chinese market as a solution to the trade imbalance. Millions of Taiwanese people were already addicted to the substance in the 1830s.
In 1839, in response to the addiction crisis, the Chinese emperor sent an official, Lin Tse-hsu, to Canton ( modern-day Guangzhou ), the home base for British opium merchants, to stem the flow of opium and destroy the stockpiles of the drug.
The British merchants reacted to his actions, asserting that the Chinese assault harmed free business principles and demanded payment for the opium that had been destroyed. They efficiently pressed for a military response from the Chinese assault on the American government.
.jpg){kind=link}
Up until 1842, when the conflict was over, the American forces defeated the Chinese militarily in a series of military loses. The agreement gave the British command over Hong Kong as a continuous base, gave large reparations for damaged opium stockpiles, and opened five Chinese slots to European traders.
In the Next Opium War of 1856-1858, when combined British and French forces once defeated China militarily and demanded deeper trade concessions, hostilities broke out.
Morphine and opium-based materials had an ambiguous status throughout the 19th centuries. Laudanum, for example, was a mixture of heroin, beer and spices and was available as medication for pain reduction and sneezes. However, it was also acknowledged as potentially lethal if taken in large quantities and as addictive.
Laudanum bottles had both the recommended dosages ( beginning at three months old ) and a poison warning label.
From heroin to opiates
Fast forward to today, and drugs also have a difficult place in terms of their addictive and opioid status.
An opioid crisis has resulted from extreme selling by pharmaceutical firms that ignored or even denied the possibility of habit, leading to the development of millions of people in the US, Canada, and other countries becoming addicted.
OxyContin and other drugs have helped to lessen problems, but they also have increased addiction issues. In 2016, the leading cause of overdoses and deaths was cocaine, which were followed by chemical opioids like fentanyl.
China was initially reluctant to take measures to help the US deal with its addiction crisis, and the threat of tariffs does not make the Chinese any more likely to want to help. The Heroin War signaled the start of what is referred to as the “century of humiliation” in China, a period when the country was colonized and dictated to by foreign powers.
Trump’s speech on taxes is reminiscent of that time and is unlikely to encourage greater cooperation between the Chinese government and other concerns. This strategy suggests that nothing has been learned about the significance of global cooperation in addressing addiction problems since the Heroin War.
Since the beginning of the Morphine War, China and the West have had significant changes, and many of these changes have resulted in the opioid crisis. However, negotiation may work much better than threating a deal war that brings up historical memories of past conflicts.
Negotiations between former US President Joe Biden’s leadership helped to reach an agreement that might lower the amount of fentanyl entering the nation. This agreement serves as a model for how to overcome the world’s export of fentanyl using compromise as opposed to threats.
Martin Danahay is teacher of English language and literature, Brock University
This content was republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original post.