America’s trade deficit with China in four charts
Today, the US imports almost three times as much from China as they do from us.
A full-on trade war has broken out between the US and China. President Trump has now slapped 145% tariffs on most Chinese imports. Meanwhile, China announced that it would increase the 34% tariffs it had in place on US imports to 84%.
How did this all start? Trump has been fixated on America’s trade deficit with trading partners around the world, but especially with China.
When you look at the numbers behind US trade with China... it is quite lopsided.
Today, the US imports almost three times as much from China as they do from us. In 2024, China imported $143.5 billion worth of goods from the US, but the US imported $438.9 billion worth.
When you take US exports to China and subtract US imports from China, you get the trade balance — or deficit, in this case.
But let’s dig into these numbers a bit more to see what they represent.
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