Washington, DC - The head of the White House's drug-control policy on Wednesday called for President-elect Trump to continue the Biden administration's cooperation with China on critical drug policy.

Rahul Gupta, the White House's director of drug-control policy, sat down with the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Wednesday in an interview which focused on US drug control policy.

Gupta praised the outgoing administration's drug policy and called on Trump to avoid taking steps backwards in cooperation with China.

Following an agreement made during a meeting between Biden and China's Xi Jinping late last year, Washington and Beijing have worked together to crack down on the production and distribution of fentanyl precursors.

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In August, China announced strict controls on chemicals involved in the manufacturing of fentanyl, and last month, a Chinese company that produces fentanyl precursors was indicted by Washington.

Gupta lauded the measures taken by Beijing, which included a wave of arrests.

"We are seeing on the ground," Gupta explained, "A real difficulty in obtaining the precursor chemicals to make fentanyl and to be able to traffic those."

"It’s a progress that is occurring. It’s a progress that is contributing to the decline in numbers. It’s a progress that must continue, because in the darkest of the days of the relationship between two countries, this cannot be one that can slow down, because American lives depend on it."

Trump has vowed to introduce a stringent tariff regime on China when he enters office in January.

While Gupta said that there was no harm in "keeping the pressure" on Beijing, Trump should be careful not to hurt the relationship in areas where progress has been made.

"I think there’s no harm in keeping the pressure. What we need to make sure is that the pressure is kept with a sense of understanding of what is already happening," Gupta said.