The unexpected rise of the Chinese fentanyl industry in Mexico.
Illustration by Tim Marrs
In Guadalajara, Mexico, graffiti artists don’t paint murals of Gan Xianbing. Nor do locals pen elegiac Narcocorridos about his exploits, as they do for traffickers like Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. But for the years before his capture in 2018, Gan Xianbing’s success in the city’s drug trade signaled the emergence of a new power player on the scene: the Chinese national.
As Chinese-made fentanyl — a synthetic opioid 50 times stronger than heroin — has flooded the U.S. market in rec
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European democracies, threatened by Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine and Donald Trump’s designs on Greenland, are embarking on historic changes in their defense posture. But China’s grip on the supply of tungsten, gallium and other vital raw materials threatens their plans.
The former official in both of the president’s terms discusses why Trump has become less hawkish on China, and his sudden departure from the administration last year.
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