Since China joined the WTO in 2001, U.S. merchandise exports to China increased 187 percent. During the same period, U.S. exports to the rest of the world grew 38 percent.
The United States has a services trade surplus with China.
As the U.S. economy becomes increasingly globally integrated, the U.S. manufacturing base remains strong. While the U.S.’s manufacturing share of GDP is declining, America is still the world’s number one manufacturer, accounting for more than 20 percent of worldwide manufacturing value-added – that’s twice as much as Germany and more than 2.6 times as much as China. The U.S. manufactures more today than ever in its history – seven times as much real output as in 1950, with roughly the same number of workers as in 1950.
Increased international trade has raised real incomes, restrained prices, introduced greater product variety, spurred technological advances and innovation, and raised real living standards in the United States.
The annual payoff from trade liberalization to date is over $10,000 for an average American family of four. This includes the Tokyo Round, Kennedy Round and Uruguay Round, NAFTA and other U.S. free trade agreements.
The removal of remaining global barriers to trade in goods and services could generate an additional $600 billion in annual income for the United States. Most of these gains arise from liberalization of trade in services.
Approximately 57 million American workers are currently employed by firms that engage in international trade. These firms tend to be more productive, have higher employment growth and pay their workers higher wages than domestically-oriented firms.
