When Donald J. Trump was first in the White House trying to strike a trade deal with China, Beijing tried to curry favor with the American president by banning all variants of the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl.

特朗普在第一任期试图与中国达成贸易协议时，北京曾通过禁止所有类型的强效合成阿片类药物芬太尼来讨好这位美国总统。

Now, as China and the United States are deadlocked in a bitter trade war that has roiled the world, offering to do more to further stem the flow of fentanyl and the chemicals used to make it could once again be an option for China.

如今，中美两国陷入一场激烈的贸易战，搅乱了全球局势，对中国来说，再次提出采取更多措施进一步遏制芬太尼及其制造原料的流动或许不失为一个选择。

Beijing has for years used cooperation on fentanyl as leverage in its broader relationship with the United States. The move to ban all variants in 2019 came after President Trump accused China of not doing enough to stop the flow of the drug into the United States, and as the issue of fentanyl became increasingly tangled in a broader trade dispute.

多年来，中国在与美国的总体往来中一直将芬太尼问题上的合作当作一种筹码。2019年，中国决定禁止所有类型的芬太尼是在特朗普总统指责中国没有全力阻止芬太尼流入美国之后，而且当时芬太尼问题日益与更广泛的贸易争端纠缠在一起。

China also agreed at that time to participate in joint law enforcement crackdowns on fentanyl with the United States. The moves led Mr. Trump to praise the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, for making “a wonderful humanitarian gesture.”

中国当时还同意与美国开展联合执法行动打击芬太尼。这些举措让特朗普称赞中国领导人习近平做出了“伟大的人道主义姿态”。

With the new Trump administration, China has faced even greater pressure to do more to crack down on the export of chemical precursors used to make fentanyl. The administration cited fentanyl as the reason for twice imposing additional tariffs of 10 percent on China in February and March. The Trump administration also closed a loophole on Friday that it said allowed small quantities of the chemical precursors to be shipped to the United States undetected.

随着新一届特朗普政府上台，中国面临更大的压力，需采取更多行动打击用于制造芬太尼的化学前体的出口。特朗普政府以芬太尼为由分别在2月和3月两次对中国加征10%的关税。上周五，特朗普政府还堵住了一个漏洞，称这个漏洞曾让少量化学前体得以悄悄运入美国。

中国广州一家生产餐馆用具和炊具的工厂。美国上周五取消了对中国商品的“小额豁免”，这被视为一个允许零售商将商品从中国直接送到美国消费者手中而无需支付关税的贸易漏洞。

Mr. Trump, who asserts that China has cheated on trade with the United States for decades, has also raised tariffs on most Chinese goods to a minimum of 145 percent. China has responded with similarly sky-high tariffs, vowing to “fight to the end” against what Beijing calls blackmail.

特朗普坚称中国几十年来一直在对美贸易中作弊，他还将大多数中国商品的关税提高到了最低145%。中国则以同样高昂的关税作为回应，并誓言要对北京所称的讹诈行为“奉陪到底”。

But there are signs that both sides might be looking for a way to de-escalate a trade war that is expected to drag down economic growth in both countries and around the world. China’s Ministry of Commerce said on Friday it was “evaluating” requests by senior U.S. officials to start negotiations — though it insisted that Beijing would agree to talks only if the United States showed “sincerity.”

但有迹象表明，双方或许都在寻找一种方法来缓和这场预计会拖累中美两国以及全球经济增长的贸易战。中国商务部上周五表示，正在“评估”美国高级官员提出的启动谈判的请求——不过中方坚称，只有在美国表现出“诚意”的情况下，北京才会同意进行谈判。

Turning back to fentanyl could be one way to break the impasse.

重新回到芬太尼问题上可能是打破僵局的一种方式。

China is considering presenting an offer to deepen cooperation with the United States on fighting the flow of fentanyl, according to a person familiar with the matter who has spoken with Chinese officials. That plan would include sending Beijing’s top security official to Washington to break the ice in trade talks.

据一位与中国官员交谈过的知情人士透露，中国正在考虑提议深化与美国在打击芬太尼流入方面的合作。该计划将包括派中国最高安全官员前往华盛顿，为贸易谈判打破僵局。

China has said it wants the Trump administration to cancel its tariffs before the two countries hold talks. The person said that Beijing hopes that a pledge to work with the United States on fentanyl will smooth the way for both governments to simultaneously reduce their tariffs — a face-saving way to back down.

中国曾表示，希望特朗普政府在两国举行谈判前取消关税。这位知情人士称，北京希望承诺在芬太尼问题上与美国合作，能为两国政府同时降低关税铺平道路——这是一种能保住面子的让步方式。

To demonstrate China’s seriousness, the person said, Beijing has tapped Wang Xiaohong, China’s minister of public security and a close ally of Mr. Xi, to lead any such talks with the United States on fentanyl. The news that China was weighing addressing the Trump administration’s concerns over China’s role in the fentanyl trade was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

这位知情人士称，为了表明中国的诚意，北京已指派中国公安部部长、习近平的亲信王小洪负责与美国就芬太尼问题展开此类谈判。《华尔街日报》率先报道了中国有意回应特朗普政府对中国在芬太尼贸易中所起作用的关切。

Mr. Wang’s relationship with Mr. Xi dates back to at least the 1990s, when he was deputy chief of the public security bureau in Fuzhou, the capital city of the coastal province of Fujian, at a time when Mr. Xi was that city’s top official.

王小洪与习近平的交情至少可以追溯到上世纪90年代，当时王小洪是沿海省份福建省省会福州市的公安局副局长，而习近平是福州市的最高官员。

Mr. Wang is also the director of China’s National Narcotics Control Commission, and in that capacity he held talks via video in January with Rahul Gupta, the director of the White House’s drug control office under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Mr. Wang said the two sides had “made positive progress” in the past year on drug control.

王小洪还担任中国国家禁毒委员会主任，今年1月，他以这一身份与美国总统拜登领导下的白宫毒品管制办公室主任拉胡尔·古普塔进行了视频会谈。王小洪表示，过去一年，双方在禁毒方面“取得了积极进展”。

中国公安部部长、习近平的亲密盟友王小洪预计将牵头与美国就芬太尼问题举行会谈。

Offering unilaterally to do more to address the scourge of fentanyl would be a slight shift for China, which had in recent months said that it was willing to cooperate with the United States on fentanyl, but not if it was pressured to do so with tariffs.

单方面提出采取更多措施应对芬太尼这一祸害对中国来说将是一个细微的转变。近几个月来，中国曾表示愿意在芬太尼问题上与美国合作，但前提是不会因关税压力而被迫这么做。

China has bristled at accusations that it is responsible for the fentanyl crisis in the United States, saying it is instead a reflection of Washington’s failure to address social problems in America.

中国对美国芬太尼危机是由中国造成这一指责不屑一顾，称这恰恰反映出华盛顿未能解决美国国内的社会问题。

The Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, in March criticized the tariffs imposed on the grounds that China needed to do more on fentanyl, saying that “the United States should not return good with evil.” That month, the government released a white paper detailing the ways it is working to control fentanyl, including using technologies like artificial intelligence. It said it opposed “finger-pointing and buck-passing” on the issue.

中国外交部长王毅在3月批评了以中国需在芬太尼问题上采取更多行动为由而加征的关税，称美国不应“恩将仇报”。同月，中国政府发布了一份白皮书，详细阐述了其在控制芬太尼方面所做的努力，包括使用人工智能等技术。白皮书称，中国反对在这个问题上“相互指责、推卸责任”。

Shen Dingli, a Shanghai-based international relations scholar, said China had the capacity to stamp out the fentanyl trade.

上海的国际关系学者沈丁立表示，中国有能力杜绝芬太尼贸易。

“China is one of the most effective countries in the world in terms of control,” said Mr. Shen, who was not aware of China’s plans to offer talks over fentanyl.

“在管控方面，中国是世界上最有成效的国家之一，”沈丁立说，他并不知晓中国计划就芬太尼问题展开谈判一事。

“The fentanyl problem has never been an unsolvable technical problem,” he added. “It is just a political problem that can be solved in a matter of seconds as long as there is sincerity.”

“芬太尼问题从来都不是一个无法解决的技术问题，”他补充道。“这只是一个政治问题，只要有诚意，瞬间就能解决。”

Cooperation on fentanyl was frozen in 2022 after a visit to Taiwan by the House speaker at the time, Nancy Pelosi. Talks did not resume until after Mr. Xi held a summit with Mr. Biden in November 2023 and Washington agreed to Beijing’s demand that U.S. sanctions be lifted on a forensics institute run by China’s Ministry of Public Security.

2022年，时任美国众议院议长佩洛西访问台湾后，中美在芬太尼问题上的合作陷入停滞。直到2023年11月习近平与拜登举行峰会，且华盛顿方面同意了北京方面提出的取消对中国公安部下属一所法医鉴定机构制裁的要求后，相关谈判才得以重启。

Last September, Chinese officials expanded the list of precursor chemicals requiring oversight. Even so, enforcement is something of a cat-and-mouse game, as producers are able to develop alternative chemicals. Complicating matters more is the fact that many of the precursor chemicals are also used to make legal pharmaceutical drugs.

去年9月，中国官员扩大了需要监管的化学前体物质清单。即便如此，执法工作仍有些像猫捉老鼠的游戏，因为生产商能够研发出替代化学物质。更复杂的是，许多化学前体物质也被用于制造合法的药物。

去年，在墨西哥库利亚坎的一个贩毒集团安全屋的地板上，用于生产芬太尼的化学品。用于制造合成阿片类药物的化学前体大多从中国运往墨西哥，在墨西哥完成加工后再走私到美国。