H.R. 3203House118th Congress (2023-2025)Passed House

Stop Chinese Fentanyl Act of 2023

AI-Generated Summary

Updated January 20, 2026 at 7:26 AM UTC

The Stop Chinese Fentanyl Act seeks to tighten U.S. sanctions on Chinese producers, manufacturers, and officials linked to illicit fentanyl and its precursor chemicals, and to improve oversight of emergency economic powers. It expands the definition of a foreign opioid trafficker to include Chinese entities and senior officials, extends sanction periods, and adds reporting and limitation rules. The bill primarily targets Chinese chemical companies, government agencies, and officials, while affecting U.S. agencies that impose sanctions.

Key Provisions

Calls on the Chinese government to cooperate on identifying and labeling precursor chemicals and to enforce know‑your‑customer procedures for shipments.
Amends the Fentanyl Sanctions Act to define “foreign opioid trafficker” to include Chinese entities that produce or finance fentanyl precursors and senior Chinese officials who aid trafficking.
Extends the maximum sanction term for identified traffickers from 5 years to 10 years.
Requires the President to provide annual written evaluations to designated congressional committees on the effectiveness of emergency economic powers used for drug‑trafficking emergencies.
Adds cost‑benefit analysis and termination criteria requirements for regulations issued under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Sets a 10‑year statute of limitations for civil and criminal penalties under both the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Trading With the Enemy Act.
Creates an exception so that sanctions under this Act do not automatically block all imports of goods, defining “goods” broadly but excluding technical data.

Legislative Activity

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10 earlier actions

SenateIntro Referral Latest Action

Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee

July 26, 2023

View full timeline

HouseIntro Referral

Introduced in House

May 11, 2023

HouseIntro Referral

Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on Financial Services, Oversight and Accountability, and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Foreign Affairs Committee

May 11, 2023

HouseCommittee

Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.

Foreign Affairs Committee

May 16, 2023

HouseCommittee

Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by Voice Vote.

Foreign Affairs Committee

May 16, 2023

HouseFloor

Mr. Barr moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.

July 25, 2023 • 4:22 PM

HouseFloor

Considered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H3910-3913)

July 25, 2023 • 4:22 PM

HouseFloor

DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 3203.

July 25, 2023 • 4:22 PM

HouseFloor

Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H3910-3911)

July 25, 2023 • 4:33 PM

HouseFloor

On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H3910-3911)

July 25, 2023 • 4:33 PM

HouseFloor

Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.

July 25, 2023 • 4:33 PM

SenateIntro Referral

Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee

July 26, 2023

Floor Debate

2 members

What members said about H.R. 3203 on the floor

1 Republican1 Democrat

Rep. Andy BarrR-KY-6 · Jul 25, 2023

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3203) to impose sanctions with respect to Chinese producers of synthetic opioids and opioid precursors, to hold Chinese officials…

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3203) to impose sanctions with respect to Chinese producers of synthetic opioids and opioid precursors, to hold Chinese officials accountable for the spread of illicit fentanyl, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this measure.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of my legislation, the Stop Chinese Fentanyl Act, that is currently before the House.

The fentanyl crisis is one that is affecting families and communities across the United States. As of 2021, 70,601 Americans died as a result of synthetic opioid overdoses. As of 2020, 82.3 percent of all opioid- involved overdoses were the result of synthetic opioids. Last year, almost 70 percent of all drug overdose deaths were caused by fentanyl-- over 100,000 American lives destroyed because of this.

This has certainly impacted my home State, the Commonwealth of Kentucky. A recent drug overdose report from the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy reported that there was a 14.5 percent increase in overdose deaths in my home State.

According to cases autopsied by the Kentucky Office of the Medical Examiner and toxicology reports submitted by Kentucky coroners, the rise in the death toll was driven largely by an increased use of fentanyl, accounting for approximately 70 percent of all overdose deaths in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Unfortunately, this scourge has spread with the help of our greatest strategic threat, the People's Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party. We know that China has historically been and remains the primary source of fentanyl in global circulation.

Since the Trump administration tightened controls on the shipment of fentanyl into the United States, the CCP has adjusted their practices and begun producing precursor chemicals and outsourcing final production to cartel laboratories in Mexico to then exploit our porous southern border and poison the American people.

In 2020, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized 4,800 pounds of fentanyl, or enough to kill over a billion people. Just a tiny little bit of this very deadly synthetic opioid is enough to kill.

This figure more than tripled in just 2 years to 14,700 pounds in 2022. In the first 2 months of 2023, Customs and Border Protection seized 12,500 pounds. Much of this is originating from China exploiting the cartels and exploiting our open southern border.

We must attack the production of fentanyl at its source by targeting the source of the precursors in China. My legislation places sanctions on Chinese producers of synthetic opioids and opioid precursors and holds senior government and Chinese political officials accountable for the spread of illicit fentanyl.

Specifically, it amends the Fentanyl Sanctions Act to expand the definition of a foreign opioid trafficker to include any Chinese entity that produces, manufactures, distributes, sells, finances, or transports synthetic opioids or active pharmaceutical ingredients or chemicals used to produce synthetic opioids and fails to take credible steps to detect or prevent opioid trafficking, including know-your- customer procedures or cooperation with U.S. counternarcotics efforts.

The expanded definition also includes any senior officials of the PRC Government or other Chinese political official who has significant regulatory or law enforcement responsibilities and fails to take credible steps to combat foreign opioid traffickers.

Their culpability, the culpability of the Chinese Communist Party in this epidemic in our country, does not end when the precursor products land in Mexico or illegally cross our southern border. We must look at every step of fentanyl's deadly supply chain.

This bipartisan legislation passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee by voice vote earlier this year and is a needed step to control this deadly drug.

Mr. Speaker, I urge support for this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

House of Representatives,

Committee on Foreign Affairs,

Washington, DC, February 9, 2023.

Hon. Patrick McHenry,

Chairman, Committee on Financial Services

Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman McHenry: Thank you for consulting with the

Foreign Affairs Committee and agreeing to be discharged from

further consideration of H.R. 3203, the Stop Chinese Fentanyl

Act of 2023, so that the measure may proceed expeditiously to

the House floor.

I agree that your forgoing further action on this measure

does not in any way diminish or alter the jurisdiction of

your committee, or prejudice its jurisdictional prerogatives

on this measure or similar legislation in the future. I would

support your effort to seek appointment of an appropriate

number of conferees from your committee to any House-Senate

conference on this legislation.

I will seek to place our letters on H.R. 3203 into the

Congressional Record during floor consideration. I appreciate

your cooperation regarding this legislation and look forward

to continuing to work together as this measure moves through

the legislative process.

Sincerely,

Michael T. McCaul,

Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

I thank the gentleman from Virginia for his bipartisan support of this important legislation. This is a bipartisan bill for good reason, Mr. Speaker: Because China has blamed the rise in overdose deaths in the United States and illicit fentanyl in the United States on the United States.

The Chinese Communist Party has refused to address its role in this crisis. While Mexico is now the principal source of illicit fentanyl and its analogues, cartels manufacture these drugs in covert laboratories with ingredients, precursor chemicals sourced largely from Communist China.

China is the primary source of chemical precursors used to synthesize fentanyl and other novel synthetic

opioids, and this illicit fentanyl made in Mexican labs is then smuggled into the United States across our open and unenforced southern border, making its way into communities and killing Americans, killing many Americans in my home State of Kentucky.

No, Kentucky is not a border State, but Kentucky is impacted by the fact that these Chinese precursors are making their way into China and then smuggled across our southern border.

This is a huge problem, and we need to hold those individuals, those Chinese Communist Party officials, accountable for this scourge, for poisoning the American people.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to defend the American people, to stop this scourge, and to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for their role in this poison that is pouring across our borders.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Rep. Gerald E. ConnollyD-VA-11 · Jul 25, 2023

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3203, the Stop Chinese Fentanyl Act of 2023, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. On both sides of the aisle, we recognize the devastating impact the…

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3203, the Stop Chinese Fentanyl Act of 2023, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

On both sides of the aisle, we recognize the devastating impact the opioid crisis has had on our families and communities. There has been too much tragic loss of life and too many families torn apart. Challenging problems require our working together to find solutions.

Here at home, we need expanded education programs for students so that they understand the deadly risks associated with fentanyl consumption and better funded rehab programs to help people get clean. We need law enforcement and prosecutors to target major trafficking networks, but we should be careful not to repeat the excesses and inequities that undermined the war on drugs previously.

In the international context, we need to incentivize countries to work with us, but we also need to demonstrate there are consequences for actions that increase the supply of these dangerous drugs with impunity. This bill takes the latter approach. It will beef up sanctions on major Chinese fentanyl traffickers that aid and abet opioid traffickers. The legislation bolsters reporting requirements on fentanyl trafficking under the national emergency declared by the President and includes reforms to the International Economic Emergency Powers Act.

I want to be clear: We can't sanction our way out of this fentanyl crisis alone. Sanctions are an important tool, but we will also need cooperation, as well.

If we want countries to limit the export of fentanyl precursors and work with us to prevent such substances from entering our country and poisoning our people, we will need the cooperation of law enforcement in other nations like China and Mexico. That is a simple fact.

Tough talk and asset freezes have their role, and I support them, but diplomacy and law enforcement cooperation are also part of the picture we need if we are going to conquer this problem.

I thank Mr. Barr, my friend from Kentucky, and Chairman McCaul for their advocacy on this important issue and bringing this legislation forward.

Congress works on behalf of the American people best when we can collaborate, when we can support each other, when we work together. Both sides worked in good faith to get this deal done, and I salute the gentleman from Kentucky for his leadership.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

Again, this is a scourge that has cost way too many lives. Educating our young people about its dangers but also cracking down on those who, with abandon, are willing to poison our young people and damage our country is an important step.

I support Mr. Barr's effort. I support this legislation, and I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Bill Text

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Referred in SenateIssued July 26, 2023

IIB

118th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 3203

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

July 26, 2023

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

AN ACT

To impose sanctions with respect to Chinese producers of synthetic opioids and opioid precursors, to hold Chinese officials accountable for the spread of illicit fentanyl, and for other purposes.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Stop Chinese Fentanyl Act of 2023.

Sense of Congress

It is the sense of Congress that the Government of the People’s Republic of China should—

(1)

work with the United States Government to identify a list of unregulated chemicals used to create precursor chemicals that bear increased scrutiny;

(2)

require the proper labeling of chemical and equipment shipments in accordance with international rules;

(3)

immediately implement know-your-customer procedures for chemical shipments; and

(4)

direct all relevant departments and agencies, including the National Narcotics Control Commission, the Ministry of Public Security, the General Administration of Customs, and the National Medical Products Administration of the Government of the People’s Republic of China to establish new rules to crack down on precursor trafficking and enforce such rules swiftly.

Amendments to the Fentanyl Sanctions Act

(a)

Definitions

Section 7203(5) of the Fentanyl Sanctions Act (21 U.S.C. 2302(5)) is amended—

(1)

by striking The term foreign opioid trafficker means any foreign person and inserting the following:

The term foreign opioid trafficker—

(A)

means any foreign person

;

(2)

by striking the period at the end and inserting ; and; and

(3)

by adding at the end the following:

(B)

includes—

(i)

any entity of the People’s Republic of China that the President determines—

(I)

produces, manufactures, distributes, sells, or knowingly finances or transports any goods described in clause (i) or (ii) of paragraph (8)(A); and

(II)

fails to take credible steps, including through implementation of appropriate know-your-customer procedures or through cooperation with United States counternarcotics efforts, to detect or prevent opioid trafficking; and

(ii)

any senior official of the Government of the People’s Republic of China or other Chinese political official that—

(I)

has significant regulatory or law enforcement responsibilities with respect to the activities of an entity described in clause (i); and

(II)

aids and abets, including through intentional inaction, opioid trafficking.

(b)

Identification of foreign opioid traffickers

Section 7211 of the Fentanyl Sanctions Act (21 U.S.C. 2311) is amended—

(1)

in subsection (a)(1)(A), by adding at the end before the semicolon the following: , including whether the heads of the National Narcotics Control Commission, the Ministry of Public Security, the General Administration of Customs, and the National Medical Products Administration of the Government of the People’s Republic of China are foreign opioid traffickers; and

(2)

in subsection (c), by striking 5 years and inserting 10 years.

Amendments to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Trading with the Enemy Act

(a)

International Emergency Economic Powers Act

(1)

Periodic evaluation

Section 203 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702) is amended by adding at the end the following:

(d)

Periodic evaluation

(1)

In general

If the authority granted to the President under this section is exercised with respect to a covered national emergency, the President shall transmit to the appropriate congressional committees, not less frequently than annually, a periodic evaluation in writing that—

(A)

assesses the effectiveness of the exercise of such authority in resolving the covered national emergency;

(B)

considers the views of public- and private-sector stakeholders; and

(C)

discusses any potential changes to the exercise of the authority for the purpose of more effectively resolving the covered national emergency.

(2)

Definitions

In this subsection—

(A)

the term appropriate congressional committees means—

(i)

the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Financial Services, and the Committee on Oversight and Accountability of the House of Representatives; and

(ii)

the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the Committee on Foreign Relations, and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate; and

(B)

the term covered national emergency means a national emergency that—

(i)

the President has declared, within the preceding 5-year period, with respect to any national emergency regarding international drug trafficking; and

(ii)

has not terminated.

(2)

Consultation and reports

Section 204 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1703) is amended—

(A)

by striking the Congress each place it appears and inserting the appropriate congressional committees; and

(B)

by adding at the end the following:

(e)

Appropriate congressional committees defined

In this section, the term appropriate congressional committees has the meaning given that term in section 203(d)(2).

(3)

Authority to issue regulations

Section 205 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1704) is amended—

(A)

by striking The President and inserting (a) The President; and

(B)

by adding at the end the following:

(b)

In issuing regulations under subsection (a) pursuant to a covered national emergency (as defined in section 203), the President shall—

(1)

consider the costs and benefits of available statutory and regulatory alternatives;

(2)

evaluate the costs and benefits for the purpose of expeditiously resolving the applicable national emergency;

(3)

establish criteria for the eventual termination of the applicable national emergency; and

(4)

include in the basis and purpose incorporated in the regulations—

(A)

an explanation of how the regulations will resolve the applicable national emergency; and

(B)

a discussion of the costs and benefits.

(4)

Statute of limitations

Section 206 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) is amended by adding at the end the following:

(d)

Statute of limitations

(1)

Civil penalty

An action, suit, or proceeding for the enforcement of any civil fine, penalty, or forfeiture, pecuniary or otherwise, shall not be entertained unless commenced within 10 years from the latest date of the violation upon which the civil fine, penalty, or forfeiture is based.

(2)

Criminal penalty

No person shall be prosecuted, tried, or punished for any offense under this section unless the indictment is found or the information is instituted within 10 years from the latest date of the violation upon which the indictment or information is based.

(b)

Trading with the Enemy Act

Section 16 of the Trading with the Enemy Act (50 U.S.C. 4315) is amended by adding at the end the following:

(d)

Statute of limitations

(1)

Criminal penalty

(2)

Civil penalty

Exception relating to importation of goods

(a)

In general

A requirement to block and prohibit all transactions in all property and interests in property pursuant to this Act or any amendment made by this Act shall not include the authority or a requirement to impose sanctions on the importation of goods.

(b)

Good defined

In this section, the term good means any article, natural or manmade substance, material, supply or manufactured product, including inspection and test equipment, and excluding technical data.

Passed the House of Representatives July 25, 2023.

Kevin F. McCumber,

Clerk.