This January, when President Joe Biden was serving his last weeks in office and turning over the presidency to Donald Trump, the United States ran a $31.7 billion trade deficit with China.
That was the largest trade deficit the United States ran that month with any nation—and it continued a long-standing pattern.
In 2024, according to data published by the Census Bureau, America’s annual trade deficit with China was $295.402 billion. That was not only the largest trade deficit the United States ran with any country, it was also larger than the trade deficit the United States ran with the entire European Union ($235.571 billion).
In 2023, the United States ran a $279.107 billion trade deficit with China. In 2022, it was $382.133 billion; in 2021, it was $352.806 billion; in 2020, it was $310.263 billion; and in 2019, it was $344.312 billion.
These persistent…
