[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 25 (Friday, February 7, 2025)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 9121-9124]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-02408]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 90 , No. 25 / Friday, February 7, 2025 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 9121]]
Executive Order 14195 of February 1, 2025
Imposing Duties To Address the Synthetic Opioid
Supply Chain in the People's Republic of China
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, including the International Emergency Economic
Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the
National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.)
(NEA), section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended
(19 U.S.C. 2483), and section 301 of title 3, United
States Code,
I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of
America, find that the sustained influx of synthetic
opioids has profound consequences on our Nation,
including by killing approximately two hundred
Americans per day, putting a severe strain on our
healthcare system, ravaging our communities, and
destroying our families. Synthetic opioid overdose is
the leading cause of death for people aged 18 to 45 in
the United States.
During my first term, I took steps to end the direct
flow of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids from the
People's Republic of China (PRC) to the United States.
Since then, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which
exerts ultimate control over the government and
enterprises of the PRC, has subsidized and otherwise
incentivized PRC chemical companies to export fentanyl
and related precursor chemicals that are used to
produce synthetic opioids sold illicitly in the United
States.
Furthermore, the PRC provides support to and safe haven
for PRC-origin transnational criminal organizations
(TCOs) that launder the revenues from the production,
shipment, and sale of illicit synthetic opioids. These
PRC-origin TCOs coordinate and communicate using PRC
social media software applications in the conduct of
their business.
Many PRC-based chemical companies also go to great
lengths to evade law enforcement and hide illicit
substances in the flow of legitimate commerce. Some of
the techniques employed by these PRC-based companies to
conceal the true contents of the parcels and the
identity of the distributors include the use of re-
shippers in the United States, false invoices,
fraudulent postage, and deceptive packaging. While more
than 500,000 pounds of drugs have been seized at the
southern border each of the last 3 fiscal years, in
addition, more than 42,000 pounds of drugs have been
seized at the northern border each year on average over
the last 3 years. Illicit drugs kill tens of thousands
of Americans each year, including 75,000 deaths per
year attributed to fentanyl alone.
The influx of these drugs to our Nation threatens the
fabric of our society. The PRC plays a central role in
this challenge, not merely by failing to stem the
ultimate source of many illicit drugs distributed in
the United States, but by actively sustaining and
expanding the business of poisoning our citizens.
The flow of contraband drugs like fentanyl to the
United States through illicit distribution networks has
created a national emergency, including a public health
crisis in the United States, as outlined in the
Presidential Memorandum of January 20, 2025 (America
First Trade Policy), Proclamation 10886 of January 20,
2025 (Declaring a National Emergency at the Southern
Border of the United States), and Executive Order 14157
of January 20,
[[Page 9122]]
2025 (Designating Cartels and Other Organizations as
Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially
Designated Global Terrorists).
Despite multiple attempts to resolve this crisis at its
root source through bilateral dialogue, PRC officials
have failed to follow through with the decisive actions
needed to stem the flow of precursor chemicals to known
criminal cartels and shut down the money laundering
TCOs. The PRC implements the most sophisticated
domestic surveillance network coupled with the most
comprehensive domestic law enforcement apparatus in the
world. The PRC also routinely exerts extraterritorial
reach across the globe to threaten, harass, and
suppress what it views as political dissent. As such,
the CCP does not lack the capacity to severely blunt
the global illicit opioid epidemic; it simply is
unwilling to do so.
Immediate action is required to address the national
emergency I declared and to finally end this emergency,
including the public health crisis caused by opioid use
and addiction, which will not happen until the full
compliance and cooperation of the PRC government is
assured.
I hereby determine and order:
Section 1. (a) As President of the United States, my
highest duty is the defense of the country and its
citizens. I will not stand by and allow our citizens to
be poisoned, our laws to be trampled, our communities
to be ravaged, or our families to be destroyed.
I previously declared a national emergency with respect
to the grave threat to the United States posed by the
influx of illegal aliens and drugs into the United
States in Proclamation 10886. Pursuant to the NEA, I
hereby expand the scope of the national emergency
declared in that proclamation to cover the failure of
the PRC government to arrest, seize, detain, or
otherwise intercept chemical precursor suppliers, money
launderers, other TCOs, criminals at large, and drugs.
In addition, this failure to act constitutes an unusual
and extraordinary threat, which has its source in
substantial part outside the United States, to the
national security, foreign policy, and economy of the
United States. I hereby declare and reiterate a
national emergency under the NEA and IEEPA to deal with
that threat. This national emergency requires decisive
and immediate action, and I have decided to impose,
consistent with law, ad valorem tariffs on articles
that are products of the PRC as set forth in this
order. In doing so, I invoke my authority under section
1702(a)(1)(B) of IEEPA, and specifically find that
action under other authority to impose tariffs is
inadequate to address this unusual and extraordinary
threat.
Sec. 2. (a) All articles that are products of the PRC,
as defined by the Federal Register notice described in
section 2(d) of this order (the Federal Register
notice), shall be, consistent with law, subject to an
additional 10 percent ad valorem rate of duty. Such
rate of duty shall apply with respect to goods entered
for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for
consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern time on
February 4, 2025, except that goods entered for
consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for
consumption, after such time that were loaded onto a
vessel at the port of loading or in transit on the
final mode of transport prior to entry into the United
States before 12:01 a.m. eastern time on February 1,
2025, shall not be subject to such additional duty,
only if the importer certifies to U.S. Customs and
Border Protection within the Department of Homeland
Security as specified in the Federal Register notice.
(b) The rates of duty established by this order are
in addition to any other duties, fees, exactions, or
charges applicable to such imported articles.
(c) Should the PRC retaliate against the United
States in response to this action through import duties
on United States exports to the PRC or similar
measures, the President may increase or expand in scope
the duties imposed under this Executive Order to ensure
the efficacy of this action.
[[Page 9123]]
(d) In order to establish the duty rate on imports
of articles that are products of the PRC, the Secretary
of Homeland Security shall determine the modifications
necessary to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the
United States (HTSUS) in order to effectuate the
objectives of this order consistent with law and shall
make such modifications to the HTSUS through notice in
the Federal Register. The modifications made to the
HTSUS by this notice shall be effective with respect to
goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from
warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m.
eastern time on February 4, 2025, except as otherwise
noted in subsection 2(a) of this section, and shall
continue in effect until such actions are expressly
reduced, modified, or terminated.
(e) Articles that are products of the PRC, except
those that are eligible for admission under ``domestic
status'' as defined in 19 CFR 146.43, which are subject
to the duties imposed by this order and are admitted
into a United States foreign trade zone on or after
12:01 a.m. eastern time on February 4, 2025, except as
otherwise noted in subsection 2(a) of this section,
must be admitted as ``privileged foreign status'' as
defined in 19 CFR 146.41. Such articles will be subject
upon entry for consumption to the rates of duty related
to the classification under the applicable HTSUS
subheading in effect at the time of admittance into the
United States foreign trade zone.
(f) No drawback shall be available with respect to
the duties imposed pursuant to this order.
(g) For avoidance of doubt, duty-free de minimis
treatment under 19 U.S.C. 1321 shall not be available
for the articles described in subsection (a) of this
section.
(h) Any prior Presidential Proclamation, Executive
Order, or other presidential directive or guidance
related to trade with the PRC that is inconsistent with
the direction in this order is hereby terminated,
suspended, or modified to the extent necessary to give
full effect to this order.
(i) The articles described in subsection (a) of
this section shall exclude those encompassed by 50
U.S.C. 1702(b).
Sec. 3. (a) The Secretary of Homeland Security shall
regularly consult with the Secretary of State, the
Attorney General, the Assistant to the President for
National Security Affairs, the Attorney General, and
the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security on
the situation regarding the PRC. The Secretary of
Homeland Security shall inform the President of any
circumstances that, in the opinion of the Secretary of
Homeland Security, indicate that the PRC government has
taken adequate steps to alleviate the opioid crisis
through cooperative actions. Upon the President's
determination of sufficient action to alleviate the
crisis, the tariffs described in section 2 of this
order will be removed.
(b) The Secretary of Homeland Security, in
coordination with the Secretary of State, the Attorney
General, the Assistant to the President for National
Security Affairs, and the Assistant to the President
for Homeland Security, shall recommend additional
action, if necessary, should the PRC fail to take
adequate steps to alleviate the illicit drug crisis
through cooperative enforcement actions.
Sec. 4. The Secretary of Homeland Security, in
consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, the
Attorney General, and the Secretary of Commerce, is
hereby authorized to take such actions, including
adopting rules and regulations, and to employ all
powers granted to the President by IEEPA as may be
necessary to implement this order. The Secretary of
Homeland Security may, consistent with applicable law,
redelegate any of these functions within the Department
of Homeland Security. All executive departments and
agencies shall take all appropriate measures within
their authority to implement this order.
Sec. 5. The Secretary of Homeland Security, in
coordination with the Secretary of the Treasury, the
Secretary of Commerce, the Assistant to the
[[Page 9124]]
President for National Security Affairs, the Attorney
General, and the Assistant to the President for
Homeland Security, is hereby authorized to submit
recurring and final reports to the Congress on the
national emergency under IEEPA declared in this order,
consistent with section 401(c) of the NEA (50 U.S.C.
1641(c)) and section 204(c) of IEEPA (50 U.S.C.
1703(c)).
Sec. 6. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order
shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the
head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with
applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not,
create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity by any party against
the United States, its departments, agencies, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any
other person.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
February 1, 2025.
[FR Doc. 2025-02408
Filed 2-6-25; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F4-P