Table 1

U.S.-China goods trade and job displacement, 2001–2013

Change ($billions) Percent change
2001 2008 2013 2001–2013 2008–2013 2001–2013
U.S. goods trade with China ($ billions, nominal)
U.S. domestic exports* $18.0 $67.2 $114.0 $96.1 $46.9 534.9%
U.S. imports for consumption $102.1 $337.5 $438.2 $336.1 $100.7 329.3%
U.S. trade balance -$84.1 -$270.3 -$324.2 -$240.1 -$53.8 285.4%
Average annual change in the trade balance -$21.8 -$10.8 11.9%
Change (thousands of jobs) Percent change
U.S. trade-related jobs supported and displaced (thousands of jobs)
U.S. domestic exports–jobs supported 161.4 499.2 767.5 606.2 268.4 375.6%
U.S. imports for consumption–jobs displaced 1,127.7 3,620.1 4,890.9 3,763.3 1,270.8 333.7%
U.S. trade deficit–net jobs displaced 966.3 3,121.0 4,123.4 3,157.1 1,002.4 326.7%
Average annual change in net jobs displaced 287.0 200.5 12.9%

*Domestic exports are goods produced in the United States and exclude foreign exports (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 $121.7 billion in 2013, and U.S. re-exports to China represent 6.33 percent of total exports. The employment estimates shown here are based on domestic exports only. See endnotes 5 and 6 for additional details.

Source: Authors' analysis of U.S. Census Bureau (2013), U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC 2014), Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS 2014b), and BLS Employment Projections program (BLS-EP 2014a and 2014b). For a more detailed explanation of data sources and computations, see the appendix.

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