How the Trade Deficit with China Means Jobs Losses in Minnesota

A new report from EPI explains that 

The growing trade deficits with China have eliminated 3.7 million U.S. jobs between 2001 and 2018, including in every state and congressional district. Although President Trump has claimed that tariffs and other restrictions imposed on China trade will bring jobs back, the bilateral trade deficit continued to grow between 2016 and 2018, resulting in the loss of more than 700,000 U.S. jobs.

Their research suggests that since imports from China have soared while exports to China have increased much less, the US  is both losing jobs in manufacturing and missing opportunities to add jobs in manufacturing.

Key highlights of the report include: 

  • The growth of the U.S. trade deficit with China between 2001 and 2018 was responsible for the loss of 3.7 million U.S. jobs,
  • Trade deficits with China and resulting jobs losses continued to grow during the first two years of the Trump administration
  • The growing trade deficit with China has cost jobs in all 50 states and in every congressional district in the United States. 
  • China is exporting goods to the U.S. through other countries.

Growing trade deficits are also associated with wage losses not just for manufacturing workers but for all workers economywide who don’t have a college degree. Between 2001 and 2011 alone, growing trade deficits with China reduced the incomes of directly impacted workers by $37 billion per year.

Growing U.S. trade deficits with China have reduced demand for goods produced in every region of the United States and have led to job displacement. The 10 hardest-hit states ranked by job shares displaced were New Hampshire, Oregon, California, North Carolina, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Vermont, Indiana, and Idaho.

Specific to Minnesota, between 2001-2018 jobs displaced due to the goods trade deficit with China accounts for 92,400 net jobs displaced, which is 3.18% share of overall employment. This would rank Minnesota as the 5th highest total in job losses in the United States.

Filiberto Nolasco Gomez is a former union organizer and former editor of Minneapolis based Workday Minnesota, the first online labor news publication in the state. Filiberto focused on longform and investigative journalism. He has covered topics including prison labor, labor trafficking, and union fights in the Twin Cities.

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