These MA Industries Hit Hardest In Tit-For-Tat U.S.-China Trade War

MASSACHUSETTS — President Donald Trump's escalating trade war puts about $3.3 billion in exports and 30,740 jobs on the line for Massachusetts businesses and industries, according to a 2022 survey from the U.S.-China Business Council.

Trump pulled back on some tariffs Wednesday, leaving a 10 percent across-the-board tariff in place, but delaying more punitive taxes for 90 days with a lone exception. China increased its duties on U.S. goods to 84 percent in response to the tariffs, and Trump struck back by raising the duty on imports from China to 125 percent.

The stock market quickly responded to the announcement, with stocks surging to one of their highest gains since World War II.

• Trump Announces 90-Day Pause On Tariffs: MA Leaders React

In 2023, U.S. exports to China amounted to $144.9 billion and supported almost 1 million jobs. The tariffs have divergent effects on states, even within industries. The hardest hit are those that produce soybeans, semiconductors, pharmaceutical preparations and crude oil, the top U.S. exports to China.

"Enough is enough," Gov. Maura Healey said on Wednesday in response to the on-again, off-again tariff threats. "Donald Trump needs to stop gambling with people's livelihoods and end the chaos of these tariffs."

Healey previously said: "Tariffs are tanking the economy, driving up prices, and making it harder to do business. ... At a time when families and businesses are already feeling the pinch of high costs, Trump's tax hike is only making it worse."

The top Bay State exports to China, according to the Business Council report, are industrial machinery ($1.1 billion), navigational and measurement instruments ($438 million), general purpose machinery ($202 million), pharmaceuticals and medicines ($199 million) and medical equipment and supplies ($191 million).

U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton said of the tariffs imposition, and later reversal: "This is not leadership, this is total chaos."

"Tariffs helped make the Great Depression 'Great.'" Moulton said in a post on social media. "Even with yet another pause on most of Trump's extreme tariffs, Americans will still literally pay the price for this chaos."

Of the $144.9 billion in exports in 2023, $125 billion was for products grown, produced or manufactured domestically, and the remainder was for foreign goods re-exported to China, according to the U.S.-China Business Council report,

More than 931,000 U.S. jobs are supported by exports to China, outnumbering those supported by the next two Asian markets combined, the report said. Agriculture and livestock exports to China support more U.S. jobs than any other sector by a wide margin.

The report noted that U.S. exports to China dropped by 4.3 percent in 2023 due to stunted economic growth in China, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and strained U.S.-China relationships, as well as long-standing barriers such as tariffs. Soybeans, other oilseeds, and grains fell by $7 billion.

“Challenges in that sector worsen if other producers continue to become more competitive or if these products are targeted in a future tariff spat,” the report said.

Exports of semiconductors have also fallen by several billion dollars, or 52 percent since the peak in 2021. Oregon was among the hardest hit states by the national decline in this category.

The full 2024 report on U.S. exports to China is available online.

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