[By Guancha Observer Network, Liu Chenghui] Faced with Trump's tariff remarks at the drop of a hat, American media could no longer sit idly by.
A fact-checking report published by CNN on April 7 pointed out that when defending his global tariff policies, President Trump made a series of erroneous statements. For instance, he grossly exaggerated the U.S.-China trade deficit, falsely claiming that the tariffs he imposed during his previous presidential term were borne by China. His statement that "Europe never buys any products from the U.S." was also inaccurate.
On April 6, Trump claimed aboard Air Force One that there was a "$1 trillion trade deficit" between the U.S. and China, stating that the trade deficit caused the U.S. to "lose thousands of billions of dollars annually," and that "unless we resolve this issue, I will not reach an agreement with China." Trump also said that he was "willing" to deal with China, but only if China "first addresses the trade imbalance."
"As usual, Trump grossly exaggerated the trade deficit between the U.S. and China," CNN reported. The "$1 trillion" figure he mentioned was completely off the mark, being more than three times higher than the actual amount.
On April 5, Trump gave an interview to journalists aboard Air Force One. Reuters
According to data from China's General Administration of Customs, total trade between China and the U.S. in 2024 was $688.28 billion, up 3.7% year-on-year. Among this, China exported $524.656 billion worth of goods to the U.S., up 4.9% year-on-year; imports from the U.S. were $163.624 billion; and the trade surplus was $361.032 billion.
CNN also cited U.S. federal statistics, stating that the trade deficit between the U.S. and China in terms of goods and services in 2024 was approximately $263 billion. Even excluding the service trade where the U.S. has an advantage and calculating only the goods trade, the trade deficit between the U.S. and China in 2024 was about $295 billion.
In other words, the U.S. trade deficit with China has never approached $1 trillion.
Meanwhile, Trump repeated his usual claim that the cost of the tariffs he imposed during his first presidential term was borne by China. He said, "During my four years in office, I collected thousands of billions of dollars from China."
CNN emphasized that, in fact, it is U.S. importers, not foreign exporters like China, who pay tariffs to the U.S. government. Moreover, numerous studies have found that Americans bore the majority of the costs of the tariffs imposed on Chinese goods during Trump's first term. It is easy to find specific examples of companies passing on tariff costs to U.S. consumers.
According to a study published in 2019, after Trump imposed tariffs on imported washing machines, the median price of U.S. washing machines increased by about $86, or nearly 12%. Researchers also found that the price of dryers, which are often sold together with washing machines but were not affected by the tariffs, also rose by 12%, or about $92 per unit.
In the first year of the tariffs, these price increases collectively cost U.S. consumers over $1.5 billion more.
"Someone in the U.S. has to foot the bill for this tax," said Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, a U.S. think tank. "If not the consumers, then the companies. If the companies pay, ultimately, in some way, this cost will be swallowed by the workers."
The same applies to Trump's false statements about U.S.-EU trade.
Trump said, "Europe doesn't buy our cars or our agricultural products. They don't buy anything. We buy their cars: Mercedes, Volkswagen, BMW. We buy millions of their cars, while they don't buy any of ours. They don't buy our agricultural products; they buy nothing."
All these statements are incorrect.
"They don't sell anything" is far from the truth. CNN noted that although the EU does have some trade barriers that make it more difficult for U.S. companies to export there, federal statistics show that the U.S. exported $649 billion worth of goods and services to the EU in 2024.
The statement that "they don't buy our agricultural products" is also wrong. Although the EU does have some trade barriers that hinder U.S. agricultural exports, the U.S. Department of Agriculture stated that last year the EU purchased $12.8 billion worth of U.S. agricultural exports, making it the fourth-largest export market for U.S. agricultural products, after Mexico, Canada, and China.
Moreover, while U.S. automakers often struggle to succeed in the European market, Trump's statement that "they don't buy our cars" is an exaggeration.
According to a report released last month by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, "In 2024, 164,857 American-made vehicles were exported to the EU," worth approximately $8.4 billion at current exchange rates. Some of these are cars produced by European manufacturers in the U.S.
"The current state of Sino-U.S. trade is the result of market forces and is influenced by various factors such as the economic structure of both countries, trade policies, and the status of the U.S. dollar as a currency," said Mao Ning, spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at a regular press conference on the afternoon of March 10.
Mao Ning stated that China has never deliberately sought a trade surplus. In fact, the U.S. benefits handsomely from Sino-U.S. trade. Exports by U.S. companies in China are counted as part of China's surplus. China's high-quality and low-priced products enhance the real purchasing power of American consumers and create substantial employment opportunities in the U.S. transportation, wholesale, retail, and e-commerce industries. Additionally, the U.S. maintains a huge surplus in service trade.
Mao Ning emphasized that no matter how the U.S. packages it, it cannot conceal its attempts to politicize and weaponize economic and trade issues and impose containment and suppression on China. For years, the U.S. has launched trade wars worldwide, yet the trade deficit has not decreased but instead risen, reaching $918.4 billion last year. Whether it's a tariff war or a trade war, both start with harming others and end with harming oneself. The U.S. should learn from its lessons and change course.
This article is an exclusive contribution from the Guancha Observer Network and cannot be reprinted without permission.
Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7490837391146500671/
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