China, in his words · First term · № 50
Told the UN that China's WTO entry cost the U.S. 60,000 factories
“The United States lost over 3 million manufacturing jobs, nearly a quarter of all steel jobs, and 60,000 factories after China joined the WTO. And we have racked up $13 trillion in trade deficits over the last two decades. But those days are over. We will no longer tolerate such abuse. We will not allow our workers to be victimized, our companies to be cheated, and our wealth to be plundered and transferred.”
- Said
- , Address to the United Nations General Assembly, New York City
- Subject
- WTO and lost factories
- Threat
- Economic threat
- Topic
- Trade & tariffs
- Era
- First term
What the record showed
In the same passage Trump said, "I have great respect and affection for my friend, President Xi," and announced tariffs on another $200 billion in Chinese goods, for a total of $250 billion. The U.S. goods deficit with China for 2018 was $418.2 billion, the largest annual figure in the Census Bureau series. A March 2019 study by economists Mary Amiti, Stephen Redding and David Weinstein found that in 2018 the full incidence of the tariffs fell on domestic consumers, reducing U.S. real income by $1.4 billion per month by the end of that year.