20250521 fentanyl CUC

Wang Xiaohong, Xi Jinping's minister of public security, might be China's most important player in trade negotiations with the U.S. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Reuters, AP and Yusuke Hinata)

Analysis: China's drug czar plays outsized role in US tariff talks

Donald Trump's fentanyl retaliation tariff of 20% weighs on Chinese economy

Katsuji Nakazawa is a Tokyo-based senior staff and editorial writer at Nikkei. He spent seven years in China as a correspondent and later as China bureau chief. He was the 2014 recipient of the Vaughn-Ueda International Journalist prize.

The 90-day truce in the U.S.-China tariff war has provided a much-needed respite for many struggling Chinese companies, especially small and midsize producers of relatively cheap goods for export to the U.S.

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