This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

The U.S. Treasury has alleged that two Chinese companies and a couple of citizens there are supplying chemicals to Mexican drug cartels, which assemble fentanyl and then deliver the killer drugs to American markets.

So it's announced sanctions against those sources.

And that has prompted China to complain that that's not nice, and it could even "undermine" relations between the two nations.

Fox News reports that the Treasury conclusion that the sanction targets are "supplying precursor chemicals to drug cartels in Mexico for the production of illicit fentanyl intended for U.S. markets" provoked an immediate response from China.

Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, claimed, "China, in the spirit of humanitarianism, has been trying to help the U.S. as best it can."

Wenbin argued that those sanctions "seriously undermine" work that the two nations have launched to control illegal drug trafficking.

He said his country has complained to Washington.

Identified as sanction targets, according to the U.S. government are Wuhan Shuokang Biological Technology Co., Ltd., Suzhou Xiaoli Pharmatech Co., Ltd., Yao Huatao, Wu Yaqin, Wu Yonghao and Wang Hongfei.

The U.S. government charges that the drug trafficking enterprises are causing "the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans annually."

Fox reported Treasury pursued the sanctions following consultation with the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Justice Department.

Prosecutors also have announced the indictment of members of the Sinaloa Cartel, a drug trafficking enterprise in Mexico.

Attorney General Merrick Garland has charged that "precursor chemicals" that are used to manufacture fentanyl come from Chinese sources.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid more than 50 times more potent than heroin, and it kills nearly an estimated 200 Americans daily.