Trump blames China for ‘outrageous’ fentanyl overdose epidemic and wants death penalty for dealers

US President Donald Trump, who this week blamed China for the US fentanyl overdose epidemic, has told Attorney General Jeff Sessions that illegal dealers of the opioid should be sentenced to death, according to three administration officials familiar with the matter.

Sessions met Trump at the White House on Thursday to discuss overhauling prison sentences, hours after Trump again ripped into the attorney general in an interview with Fox News. The meeting was cordial and the two men agreed to delay a push for any criminal justice reforms until after midterm congressional elections, one of the people said.

Several other administration officials were in the meeting, including Kellyanne Conway, who is overseeing the White House’s opioid response, and senior adviser Jared Kushner.

On Monday, Trump pointed the finger at China, saying on Twitter: “It is outrageous that Poisonous Synthetic Heroin Fentanyl comes pouring into the US Postal System from China. We can, and must, END THIS NOW!”

It’s not the first time Trump has mused about sentencing drug dealers to death. Politico reported in March that the proposal would be included in a plan expected from the White House to combat the opioids crisis.

Trump wants the death penalty for cases in which fentanyl dealers caused someone’s death because of drugs they sold, one of the administration officials said.

Under a law signed by President Bill Clinton, people who deal large quantities of drugs or make large amounts of money from the trade can already be sentenced to death. But prosecutors have never sought the penalty out of concern it would be found to be unconstitutional, Politico reported.

Fentanyl is one of the world’s most dangerous and most profitable narcotics, so powerful that it’s been studied as a chemical weapon, Bloomberg Businessweek reported in May. It kills more people than any other opioid, including heroin, because it’s so easy to overdose.