India has emerged as a growing player in the illicit fentanyl trade, a new US intelligence report says, a designation likely to raise alarm in New Delhi as President Donald Trump wields tariffs on countries he accuses of not doing enough to stop the deadly drug from flowing into the United States.

Fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid that can be 100 times more potent than morphine, is the most common drug involved in overdose deaths in the US – fueling an opioid crisis that has become a high-priority issue for the Trump administration.
China has been the largest source of both legal supplies of the drug – which is prescribed for severe pain relief – and illicit supplies of precursor chemicals that are typically processed in labs in Mexico before the final product is smuggled across the US border.

But India’s role in the illegal trade is becoming more prominent, according to the 2025 Annual Threat Assessment (ATA) report by the Director of National Intelligence this month.