The Ledger — Annual Series
The bilateral ledger, 2017–2025
U.S. goods trade with China, in nominal billions of dollars, from the U.S. Census Bureau’s country series — the benchmark record of what the tariff era did to the flows. The 2026 monthly view follows; the sector map breaks the aggregate open.
| Year | US exports to China | US imports from China | Goods balance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | $130.0B | $505.2B | -$375.2B |
| 2018 | $120.3B | $538.5B | -$418.2B |
| 2019 | $106.5B | $449.1B | -$342.6B |
| 2020 | $124.6B | $432.5B | -$308.0B |
| 2021 | $151.4B | $504.2B | -$352.8B |
| 2022 | $154.0B | $536.3B | -$382.3B |
| 2023 | $147.6B | $427.2B | -$279.6B |
| 2024 | $143.3B | $440.3B | -$297.0B |
| 2025 | $106.0B | $308.7B | -$202.7B |
| 2026 YTD (Jan–Aug) | $73.9B | $183.5B | -$109.6B |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Foreign Trade Division, “Trade in Goods with China” (census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html), data released October 6, 2026. Figures nominal, not adjusted for inflation; goods only — services trade adds roughly $60–70B in each direction in recent years.
The share collapse
China’s slice of U.S. imports
In 2017, 21.6 cents of every dollar of U.S. goods imports was Chinese. By 2025 it was about 9 cents — the steepest re-routing of a major sourcing relationship in modern trade history. Mexico overtook China as the largest U.S. import source in 2023.
Computed from Census/BEA totals: $505.2B of $2.34T (2017); $440.3B of $3.30T (2024); $308.7B of $3.44T (2025).
2026, month by month
The re-opening under truce
Monthly U.S. imports from China, $ billions. The January–February trough reflects post-holiday seasonality plus front-loaded tariff caution; the May–August climb tracks the truce’s first full months. Source: Census country series, October 6, 2026 release.
Go deeper
Sector map →
Electronics, agriculture, chips, minerals and parcels — where the tariff era actually bit.
The tariff file →
Why the average is 35.2% while the headlines say 47% — and what’s statutory vs. suspended.
Calculator →
Estimate duty stacks across four regimes, from the 2018 baseline to October 2026.