Media in the US: For the first time in decades, the US imports more from Taiwan than from China

According to Bloomberg, due to President Trump's tariff policies that reshaped trade flows and the global artificial intelligence boom that stimulated demand for tech products, the amount of goods the US imported from Taiwan has exceeded that from China for the first time in decades.

Data released by the US Department of Commerce on Thursday showed that the total value of goods the US purchased from China in December fell nearly 44% year-on-year to $21.1 billion. In contrast, shipments from Taiwan during the same period increased by more than a hundred percent, reaching $24.7 billion.

The report said that the sharp increase in exports from Taiwan to the US reflects a significant expansion in the supply of chips and servers provided to AI companies. This has completely changed the island's trade structure and driven its economy, valued at nearly $1 trillion, to become one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.

In 2023, the amount of goods Taiwan exported to China was more than to the US or any other place. However, last year, the volume of goods shipped from the region across the Pacific to the US surged, roughly twice the amount of goods transported across the Taiwan Strait to China.

Due to the high tariffs imposed by Trump on Chinese goods, Chinese exporters are increasingly diversifying their markets away from the US. At the same time, Taiwanese companies have taken the opposite approach, with nearly one-third of their total exports last year going to the US.

Although Chinese exporters have successfully bypassed Trump's tariffs by deeply exploring markets outside the US or by transiting through third countries, direct trade between the world's two largest economies has seen a sharp decline.

At the same time, the latest data also shows the limitations of Trump's efforts to balance global trade. In December, the US trade deficit with China was $12.7 billion, which is second only to the EU, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Mexico.

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1857662705261568/

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