U.S. tariffs: China has diverted shipments to stay on top until 2023.

• Despite facing tariff headwinds from the U.S., China, the world’s largest importer and exporter, has managed to increase its overall exports till at least 2023.

• A series of tariff escalations by the U.S. on Chinese products from 2018 led to fewer imports from China in the following years.

• Despite the decline in the U.S.’s share in many of China’s top export commodities, China managed to compensate for the fall by finding new markets or selling more to other trade partners.

• The average rate of U.S. tariffs on Chinese products was a little over 3% in January 2018, but by the end of President Donald Trump’s first term, the average tariffs on each other’s products was around 20%.

• By April 2025, all the commodities exported by the U.S. to China and vice versa were subject to some level of tariffs.

• The share of China’s top five export destinations from 2014 to 2023 (before escalations) and 2019 to 2023 (after escalations) remained the largest importer of Chinese products by a wide margin.

• China offset this decline by boosting exports to non-U.S. markets, which increased by 37.3% during the 2019-2023 period.

• Despite the decline in the U.S.’s share across China’s major export items between 2019 and 2023, China managed to find newer markets for most of these items.