The tariff battle between the United States and China is set to impact hundreds of billions of dollars in trade between the two countries. That impact will vary at the state level, as each state has a different trading relationship with China.
Last week, President Trump called for 25-percent tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods after trade talks between the United States and China stalled. In response, China called for an increase in tariffs on $60 billion worth of American imports.
In 2018, the United States had its largest trade imbalance ever with China. The United States imported $539.5 billion in goods from China, $419.2 billion more than the $120.3 billion it exported to China, according to figures from the U.S. Census Bureau
California had the biggest trade imbalance among states with China, taking in $144.8 billion more in imports than exports. In terms of proportion, Arkansas had the worst imbalance, importing more than 16 times more goods from China than were exported to China. (Washington, DC had a ratio of 82 times more Chinese imports than exports.)
Only six states had a positive trade balance with China: Louisiana ($1.6 billion), Oregon ($1.4 billion), Alaska ($708 million), New Mexico ($435 million), West Virginia ($249 million) and Alabama ($236 million).
The largest category of goods imported from China is the $43.2 billion worth of cell phones, which were not in the round of tariffs announced last week.
Exports to China vary significantly by category and affect different states (It is unclear as of Wednesday how all of these categories may be impacted by China’s tariff announcement.)
Here’s a top ten list of goods exported to China in 2018. The list is based on the Harmonized System (HS), used internationally to categorize goods:
