WASHINGTON: U.S. President Joe Biden signed two new executive orders to fight transnational criminal organizations and drug trafficking networks, and sanctioned Chinese companies and Brazil, Mexico and Colombian organized crime groups on Wednesday, officials said.

The Biden administration is keen to show it is taking action on a worsening U.S. opioid crisis that has fueled more than 100,000 U.S. drug overdose deaths in the year to April 2021, a 28% increase from the same period a year earlier, according to Centers for Disease Control data.

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