US designates India and China among major drug transit and producing countries

The United States has identified 23 countries as major drug transit or illicit drug producing nations, including India, China and Pakistan. Other listed countries include Afghanistan, The Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Myanmar, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Venezuela.

The State Department clarified that a country's inclusion on the list does not necessarily reflect its government's counterdrug efforts or level of cooperation with the United States. Listing is based on "the combination of geographic, commercial, and economic factors that allow drugs or precursor chemicals to be transited or produced" regardless of governmental enforcement measures.

President Donald Trump specifically designated Afghanistan, Bolivia, Myanmar, Colombia and Venezuela as having "failed demonstrably" to meet international counternarcotics obligations during the previous 12 months.

Trump urged Chinese leadership to take stronger sustained action against synthetic narcotics flows including nitazenes and methamphetamine, and to prosecute related drug criminals. The State Department noted that transnational organized crime's trafficking of fentanyl and other illicit drugs has created a national emergency in the US, remaining the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-44.