US has made false deficit claims: report

A Ministry of Commerce report on June 6 said US claims of a $500 billion trade deficit with China, along with US arguments that the country has sustained a "loss" in US-China trade, are inconsistent with the facts.

Here's some data to demonstrate why.

US talk of a "loss" in US-China trade is groundless

1. Did US have a trade deficit in goods with China as it claims?

US trade deficit in goods with China was overestimated by 21 percent in 2015. Reckoning on the ratio, US trade deficit in goods with China was overestimated by $88 billion in 2018.

Statistics from China: China's trade surplus in goods with the US hit $323.33 billion in 2018.

Statistics from the US: US trade deficit in goods with China hit $419.16 billion (about $419.2 billion) in 2018.

Different from its claim, US only have $240.9 billion trade deficit in goods with China.

$419.2 billion (US claim of trade deficit in goods with China)

- $88 billion (the part that has been overestimated)

= $331.2 billion (the actual US trade deficit in goods with China)

- $90.3 billion (China’s import of parts in processing trade with the US)

= $240.9 billion

2. China is the US' third largest goods export market, and is its major market for export of aircrafts, soybeans, cars, integrated circuits, and cottons. 

3. From 2009 to 2018, over 1.1 million jobs were supported by US export to China.

4. US consumer prices dropped 1-1.5 percent in 2015 thanks to cheap products imported from China.