Table 1

U.S.-China trade and job displacement, 2001–2012

Change (billions) Percent change
2001 2008 2012 2001–2012 2008–2012 2001–2012
U.S. trade with China ($ billions, nominal)
U.S. domestic exports* $18.0 $67.2 $103.5 $85.6 $36.3 476.4%
U.S. imports for consumption $102.1 $337.5 $424.9 $322.8 $87.4 316.3%
U.S. trade balance -$84.1 -$270.3 -$321.4 -$237.3 -$51.0 282.1%
Average annual change in the trade balance -$23.7 -$17.0 14.3%
Change (thousands of jobs) Percent change
U.S. trade-related jobs supported and displaced (thousands of jobs)
U.S. domestic exports-jobs supported 169.4 547.9 751.1 581.7 203.2 343.5%
U.S. imports for consumption-jobs displaced 1,139.5 3,598.1 4,660.7 3,521.3 1,062.6 309.0%
U.S. trade deficit-net jobs displaced 970.1 3,050.2 3,909.7 2,939.6 859.5 303.0%
Average annual change in net jobs displaced 294.0 286.5 15.0%

*Domestic exports are goods produced in the United States and exclude re-exports, i.e., goods produced in other countries and shipped through the United States. Total exports as reported by the U.S. International Trade Commission include re-exports. Total exports were estimated to be $110.6 billion in 2012, and U.S. re-exports to China represented 6.4 percent of total exports. The employment estimates shown here are based on domestic exports only. See endnote 9 for additional details.

Source: Author's analysis of U.S. Census Bureau (2013a), U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC 2013), Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS 2013b), and BLS Employment Projections program (BLS-EP 2011a and 2011b).  For a more detailed explanation of data sources and computations, see the appendix

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