Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Priorities For President Biden’s Upcoming Meeting With President Xi

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor regarding President Biden’s meeting with President Xi tomorrow and the recent bipartisan CODEL trip to China led by Senator Schumer. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Tomorrow, for the second time since taking office, President Biden will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the APEC summit in San Francisco.

Above all, I look forward to President Biden pushing President Xi on something I raised during the bipartisan CODEL I led to China – cracking down on the sale of precursor chemicals used to manufacture fentanyl.

When my Senate colleagues and I met with President Xi, we explained in stark detail how destructive the fentanyl crisis was here in America, and that China had a responsibility to do its part to stop its trafficking.

One step we strongly urged President Xi to take is for Chinese law enforcement to coordinate with the U.S. to enforce laws already on the books on the sale of precursor chemicals. I believe that we have made progress on this issue, and I am very optimistic that good news will come from tomorrow’s meeting regarding fentanyl when President Biden meets with President Xi.

If China stopped the sale of chemicals used to make fentanyl, it would not only save countless American lives, but even benefit China, as it would go a long way to improving China’s image in the minds of Americans.

So just as we pushed President Xi on cracking down on fentanyl last month, I expect President Biden will urge him to do so tomorrow, and I think we may see real results.

When we met with President Xi in person, we were pointed and specific with our questions and issues, and found him to be responsive. I hope that President Biden will have the same sort of frank conversation tomorrow with President Xi.

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