BEIJING, February 27th (AMSP/CGTN) – – The Trump Administration imposed tariffs on Chinese goods in 2018 to cut the trade deficit and shift imports to other countries. Did they work? We’ll break it down with the numbers.
Eight years ago, Donald Trump entered Washington with a promise to cut the US trade deficit and revitalize its industrial base through tariffs.
Since 2018, US tariffs on Chinese imports have risen from 2.7% to 17.5%, remaining largely unchanged under the Biden Administration.
US trade data indicates that the tariffs were effective. From 2018 to 2024, US imports from China decreased by 13%, reaching $439 billion.
In contrast, Chinese data shows a nearly 10% increase in exports to the US over the same period. The trade deficit trend is also disputed, with the US reporting a narrowed deficit and China disagreeing.
So, what has led to the ‘Import Gap’ between US and Chinese statistics? Analysts attribute the gap to the US de minimis exemption, which allows duty-free entry for small Chinese parcels not included in US statistics.
The de minimis threshold was raised from $200 to $800 in 2016, fueling a cross-border e-commerce surge between the US and China.
Despite US data suggesting otherwise, the Trump tariffs did not effectively reduce imports from China, according to Chinese figures.
Meanwhile, the overall US trade deficit has continued to rise, exceeding $1 trillion annually over the past four years.
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CGTN