Visualizing China’s Dependence on U.S. Trade

The New Diplomat
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On Feb. 1, 2025, President Trump announced a 10% tariff on Chinese goods imported into the United States, which went into effect on Feb. 4, as part of a broader tariff package.

In response, China announced retaliatory measures including tariffs on select U.S. goods, export controls on critical minerals, a WTO lawsuit against the U.S., and an investigation into Google.

Some Chinese industries will be more affected than others. This graphic visualizes China’s total exports to the U.S., the share of China’s exports that go to the U.S., and China’s total exports excluding the U.S. in billions of USD.

The data sourced from UN Comtrade, China Custom, USITC via KKR as of Dec. 31, 2023.

How Dependent is China on U.S. Trade?

Below, we show the value of China’s exports (U.S. and non-U.S.) and the share that the U.S. makes up of China’s exports.

Sector China Total Exports (excl. U.S.) China Exports to the U.S., 2023 ($B) U.S. % of China Exports
Consumer Electronics 339 96 22%
Home Appliance 100 24 19%
Textiles and Clothing 336 68 17%
Optical/Medical Instruments 57 12 17%
Wood, Wood Product and Paper 42 9 17%
Construction/Traditional Machinery 227 33 13%
Electrical Equipment (excl. Semiconductor) 202 30 13%
Clean Energy & Batteries 103 15 13%
Chemicals 320 42 12%
Base Metals 240 28 11%
Agriculture Product, Food and Beverage 87 10 10%
Transportation Equipment 241 24 9%
Stone, Glass and Precious Stones 28 3 9%
Semiconductor 192 9 4%
Mineral Products 67 1 2%
Other 298 97 25%
Total 2,879 501 15%

For decades, the United States has remained China’s dominant export destination, importing more Chinese goods than any other country in the world

In 2023, China’s global exports reached $3.4 trillion, with the United States receiving $502 billion—or 14.8%—of that total. This share significantly exceeded that of the second-largest recipient, Hong Kong, which accounted for 8.2% of China’s exports

Consumer electronics represents China’s highest U.S. export dependency at 22% of its exports. Among all sectors, it also shows the smallest gap between U.S. and non-U.S. exports, with non-U.S. exports ($339 billion) only 3.5 times larger than U.S. exports ($96 billion).

Despite trade tensions, China maintains substantial export relationships with the U.S. across traditional manufacturing sectors, with home appliances (19%), textiles (17%), and optical/medical instruments (17%) showing notable U.S. market share.

In December 2024, China’s total exports to the U.S. reached $48.83 billion, up from $47.31 billion in November 2024, likely driven by businesses rushing to ship goods before the anticipated tariffs increase costs.

Credit: Visual Capitalist

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