U.S.–China goods trade and job displacement, 2001–2018
| Change ($billions) | Percent change | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 2008 | 2018 | 2001–2018 | 2008–2018 | 2001–2018 | 2008–2018 | |
| U.S. goods trade with China ($billions, nominal) | |||||||
| U.S. total exports* | $19.2 | $71.5 | $120.1 | $100.9 | $48.7 | 524.6% | 68.1% |
| U.S. general imports | $102.3 | $337.8 | $539.7 | $437.4 | $201.9 | 427.6% | 59.8% |
| U.S. trade balance | ‑$83.0 | ‑$266.3 | -$419.5 | -$336.5 | -$153.2 | 405.2% | 57.5% |
| Average annual change in the trade balance | -$19.8 | -$15.3 | 10.0% | ||||
| Change (thousands of jobs) | Percent change | ||||||
| U.S. trade-related jobs supported and displaced (thousands of jobs) | |||||||
| U.S. total exports—jobs supported | 175.8 | 561.9 | 885.9 | 710.1 | 324.0 | 403.9% | 57.7% |
| U.S. general imports—jobs displaced | 1,132.5 | 3,548.9 | 5,547.2 | 4,414.8 | 1,998.4 | 389.8% | 56.3% |
| U.S. trade deficit—net jobs displaced | 956.7 | 2,987.0 | 4,661.4 | 3,704.7 | 1,674.3 | 387.3% | 56.1% |
| Average annual change in net jobs displaced | 217.9 | 167.4 | 9.8% | ||||
* Total exports as reported by the U.S. International Trade Commission include re-exports. The employment estimates shown here are based on total exports. See note 2 for additional details
Source: Authors’ analysis of American Community Survey (ACS) data (U.S. Census Bureau 2019a and 2020a), USITC 2019, and Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections program 2019a and 2019b. For a more detailed explanation of data sources and computations, see the appendix.