Three Americans detained for years in China have been released (White House)

WASHINGTON The Chinese government released three Americans and sentenced them to harsh sentences on allegations of espionage and drug trafficking just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump took office again.

The release was announced by the outgoing Biden White House and it is unclear whether it was part of a broader deal with Beijing or simply a diplomatic overture after Trump, 78, threatened Monday to impose new duties 10% tariff against China on the country's fentanyl exports.

Mark Swidan, Kai Li and John Leung each received significant support from prominent Americans who said their accusations were false.

Swidan, a Texas businessman, was sentenced to death for questionable drug offenses after his arrest in 2012 and counted actor Mel Gibson among his American backers.

Li, a solar cell businessman imprisoned since 2016, was serving a 10-year prison sentence on state security charges and had U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-D) among his defenders. NY).

Schumer raised Li's case directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a congressional trip to China last year.

Leung was arrested in April 2021 and was serving a life sentence for alleged espionage.

Soon they will return and reunite with their families for the first time in many years, the White House said in a statement.

Schumer credited Biden, 82, with securing the mass release.

“President Biden’s personal engagement with President Xi made this joyful day possible,” the New York Democrat said. “Thanks to President Biden, all Americans unjustly detained in the People's Republic of China will soon be home. »

Biden met with Xi in person this month on the sidelines of the APEC conference in Lima, Peru.

For his part, Trump promises to take a tougher approach to China when he returns to the White House on January 20, highlighting the issue of fentanyl exports that have killednearly 300,000Americans during Biden's four-year term, according to preliminary federal estimates.

“I have had numerous discussions with China regarding the massive quantities of drugs, particularly Fentanyl, being sent to the United States, but to no avail,” Trump said in a statement. Monday Statement.

“Representatives from China told me they would impose the maximum penalty of death on any drug trafficker caught doing this, but unfortunately they never followed through and the drugs are flowing into our country, mainly via Mexico, at levels never seen before. Before. Until they stop, we will impose an additional 10% tariff on China, above any additional tariff, on all of their many products entering the United States of America.

Trump, who was particularly heated during international negotiations over imprisoned Americans during his first term, also proposed forcing China to pay $50 trillion in “reparations” for mishandling the start of the pandemic of COVID-19, which the FBI says started with a lab leak. in Wuhan.

Trump last year called for a “global reparations summit.”

Republicans regularly accuse Biden of being too soft on China and claim it's because Chinese state-owned companies paid their first son Hunter Biden and first brother James Biden millions during and immediately after the vice presidency by Joe Biden.

Joe Biden met with executives of the two major Chinese companies involving his inner circle and in an infamous 2017 email, one of Hunter's associates discussed a 10% cut for the “big guy”, who was later identified by other business relationships of the first son as being the former. Vice President, under a proposed joint venture.

Trump claimed last year that Biden “was bribed and now he's being blackmailed” and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told the Post that Biden was being “soft” on the China and “it probably has something to do with trade relations and maybe.” very much involve Hunter and James Biden and some of the deals they made there.

Biden ultimately maintained Trump's first-term tariffs on China and even added new tariffs in May as he sought re-election, before abandoning the campaign two months later.

Trump imposed tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum in 2018 on most countries, including China. It also imposed customs duties of between 7.5% and 25% on Chinese products representing $362 billion in annual imports, or more than half of the total.

In May, Biden imposed tariffs on about $18 billion in Chinese imports, including metals like steel and aluminum and green energy technologies like solar panels and electric vehicles, as well as other goods like semiconductors, construction cranes and medical products.

Over the next two years, under these Biden tariffs, electric vehicles will face a 100% tariff and solar panel parts will be subject to a 50% import levy.