The U.S. and China have typically had a long-standing trade relationship going back decades. The table below from HowMuch.net shows the top imports and exports between the U.S. and China, pulled from the Observatory of Economic Complexity’s global market data for 2017.
The top 10 exports the U.S. sent to China in 2017, amounting to $132 billion, account for 39% of total exports to China.
The top 10 imported products from China in 2017, amounting to $444 billion, account for 30% of all products imported from China.
The Effect Of the U.S.-China Trade War
At one point, China was the United States’ top trading partner in terms of the total value of imports and exports. Since the trade war began in 2018, China has fallen to third place.
The Future of U.S.-China Trade
To date, the U.S. has enacted tariffs on more than $550 billion worth of imported products from China. In response to the U.S. tariffs, China has added tariffs to $185 billion worth of exported goods from the United States.
Conclusion
With the 2020 U.S. presidential election looming on the horizon, threats of increased tariffs seem to dominate headlines internationally. If these trends continue, many U.S. businesses — both at home and abroad in China — could find their bottom lines threatened by rising trade costs.
Editor’s Note: The above excerpts from the original article by Ashley Viens have been edited and abridged for the sake of clarity and brevity.