China

Visualizing China’s Dependence on U.S. Trade

Published

2 months ago

February 5, 2025

Kayla Zhu

Article/Editing:

Niccolo Conte

Graphics/Design:

Joyce Ma

See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.

Use This Visualization

China’s Exports to the U.S.

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

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.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

To learn about some of the current tariffs on China, check out this graphic that visualizes China-specific tariffs imposed by countries on products from China’s tech sector.