US says China to strengthen efforts against fentanyl chemicals

China will begin imposing controls on chemicals used to make the drug fentanyl, responsible for a devastating epidemic of addiction in the United States, the White House said Tuesday.

The "valuable step forward" comes after US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in California last year, National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said.

Beijing had announced that it will now begin regulating and controlling three precursor chemicals needed for the manufacture of the synthetic opioid, Savett said in a statement.

It is the third such move since the United States and China agreed to resume drug cooperation after the Xi-Biden meeting, which was aimed at managing tensions between the two superpowers.

US and Chinese officials met to discuss the issue last week.

Xi pledged during his summit with Biden in November to clamp down on the deadly fentanyl trade.

Beijing has however denied complicity, touting its "zero tolerance" drug policies and insisting the roots of the addiction crisis lie in the United States.

Fentanyl is many times more powerful than heroin and is responsible for some 75,000 overdose deaths a year, making it the leading cause of death of people aged 18 to 49 in the United States, officials have said.