Biden signs executive orders targeting global drug trade

President Joe Biden issued two executive orders Wednesday targeting transnational organized crime. Photo by Oliver Contreras/UPI

Dec. 16 (UPI) — President Joe Biden issued two executive orders Wednesday, sanctioning “foreign persons involved in global illicit drug trade” and establishing a council on global organized crime.

One order authorizes the treasury secretary to impose sanctions on “any foreign person determined by the secretary of the treasury, in consultation with the secretary of state, the attorney general, and the secretary of homeland security” to have engaged in the global drug trade or transactions related to it.

No specific people or organizations were named, but they include five Chinese nationals.

The second order establishes the U.S. Council on Transnational Organized Crime, bringing together six departments and agencies involved in counter-transnational organized crime efforts to counter those threats, the White House said in a press release.

Transnational organized crime threatens global stability through the drug trade, violence, gun deaths and human trafficking, the White House said.

“Transnational criminal organizations trafficking synthetic opioids, most notably fentanyl, have fueled drug overdoses across the United States, taking one American life approximately every five minutes,” the White House said.

The new council includes Cabinet-level representation from the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of State, the Department of Defense, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

These orders restructure the coordination of U.S. government transnational criminal investigations. They also expand sanctions against international narco-traffickers.

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