The petition, led by a group of families affected by the drug and advocacy organizations, urged for action to be taken to tackle “unjustified and unreasonable” practices of China and Chinese entities.

The accusation was that illegal exports of fentanyl from the world’s second-biggest economy “have devastated and continue to devastate American communities, citizens, and commerce.”

The synthetic opioid is more potent than heroin and much cheaper to produce.

Washington has previously accused Beijing of turning a blind eye to the deadly fentanyl trade, with overdose deaths involving the drug estimated in the tens of thousands annually.

Monday’s pullback comes shortly after President-elect Donald Trump vowed to impose additional tariffs on imports from China over Beijing’s alleged role in the United States’ opioid epidemic — and weeks before Trump is due to return to the White House.

Trump has also threatened to slap a 25 percent tariff on Mexico and Canada imports until both countries help to stop the flow of fentanyl and illegal immigration into the United States.

Nazak Nikakhtar, a partner at law firm Wiley Rein who is representing affected families in the petition, earlier told AFP that the Chinese government has been condoning the fentanyl trade by not effectively shutting it down.

Although they have withdrawn the petition, which was dated October 17, the coalition could re-file it again at a later time.

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in a statement that she applauded the group’s leadership “in drawing attention to and underlining the urgency of our ongoing fentanyl crisis.”

China’s foreign ministry has said that it “remains ready to continue counternarcotics cooperation with the US.”

But the ministry expressed hope that Washington “will not take China’s goodwill for granted.”

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© Agence France-Presse