Factories may be leaving China, but trade ties are stronger than they seem
China for computer chips, solar panels and various consumer imports amid growing concern over Beijing's security threats, human rights record and dominance of critical industries.
But even as policymakers and corporate executives look for ways to cut ties with China, a growing body of evidence suggests that the world's largest economies remain deeply intertwined as Chinese products make their way to America through other countries. New and forthcoming economic papers call into question whether the United States has actually lessened its reliance on China — and what a recent reshuffling of trade relationships means for the global economy and American consumers.
Changes to global manufacturing and supply chains are still unfolding, as both punishing tariffs imposed by the administration of former President Donald Trump and tougher restrictions on the sale of technology to China imposed by the Biden administration play out.
The key architect of the latest restrictions — Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo — is meeting with top Chinese officials in Beijing and Shanghai this week, a visit that underscores the challenge facing the United States as it seeks to reduce how much it depends on China at a moment when the countries' economies share so many ties.
These reworked trade rules, along with other economic changes, have caused China's share of imports into the United States to fall as the share of imports into the U.S.
from other low-cost countries like Vietnam and Mexico have climbed. The Biden administration has also pumped up incentives for producing semiconductors, electric cars and solar panels domestically, and manufacturing construction in the United States has been rising quickly.
But new research discussed at the
