Biden’s Concrete Action on Trade Outperforms Trump’s Ineffective Bluster

 

April 2024

Trump’s Dangerous Trade Policies Hurt the American Economy

Donald Trump always said he would negotiate a “better deal” for Americans – but all he delivered were failed policies that ballooned trade deficits, cost Americans billions of dollars, and lost hundreds of thousands of good-paying American jobs. Worse yet, none of his actions had any real effect on China’s unfair trade policies, which have been harming American families for decades.

Instead of learning his lesson, Trump is doubling down by promising even more aggressive measures in 2024, including an across-the-board 10 percent tax on all imports – a policy that would amount to a roughly $1,500 annual tax increase for the typical household and fails to differentiate between our closest allies and our toughest adversaries.


Trump’s leadership hurt the economy and cost American jobs. 

  • Trump not only failed to achieve his objectives, but also hurt U.S. businesses and consumers along the way. Trump’s policies didn’t create jobs. Instead, the nation was made poorer as prices rose and the American economy became less efficient.

  • A study on U.S.-China trade concluded that Trump’s policies cost the U.S. economy 245,000 jobs. During the first full year in which his policies were in effect, American economic growth shrunk by nearly $200 billion; and U.S. real income declined by $1.4 billion per month.

  • Overall manufacturing employment fell for five consecutive quarters under Trump – leaving the pre-pandemic level of manufacturing employment lower than when Trump took office.

Trade deficits, especially with China, grew under Trump. 

  • The Trump administration never had a real plan for reducing America’s trade deficit. In fact, American deficits with China and the rest of the world were higher in 2020 as a result of Trump’s tariffs than they had been in over a decade. 

  • The overall U.S. trade deficit rose by more than $100 billion in 2019, and reached its highest level since July 2008 during Donald Trump’s final full year in office. U.S. exports to China, the main source of Trump’s frustration, grew only marginally, while Chinese exports to the U.S. grew by a whopping 20%, thereby increasing the bilateral trade deficit.

Trump failed to hold China accountable

  • Trump’s policies were not effective in changing China’s actions, policies or practices. Despite Trump's tough talk, the Chinese outplayed Donald Trump and hurt Americans and the American economy in the process.

  • After two years of escalating tensions, Trump sought a deal to halt the trade war he started, which cost the American economy billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of jobs. But Trump’s “historical trade deal” failed to live up to its hype – with China buying none of the additional $200 billion of exports that the deal promised.

Trump’s allowed manufacturing and investments to go overseas

  • Trump’s trade policies undermined U.S. national security by allowing China to achieve a dangerous dominance in the production of the advanced semiconductors critical to military technology, communications, health care, clean energy and more. Trump’s failed leadership spurred a massive boom in chip exports to China, selling our most valuable and sensitive technology to our greatest competitor.

  • Trump also ceded ground to China in the competition for rare earth minerals, which serve at the heart of the world’s most important technologies – especially high-end U.S. defense industries. After four years of inaction under Trump, China is the world's top miner and processor of rare earths.

  • Trump also failed to stop American venture capitalists and other investors from investing hundreds of millions of dollars into Chinese tech companies that later engaged in mass surveillance and other human rights abuses. Despite his tough rhetoric, Trump oversaw a massive transfer of wealth from the United States and American companies toward Beijing.

Trump Is Doubling Down on Higher Taxes that Raise Prices for Working Families

  • At a time when President Biden is fighting to bring prices down, Trump is proposing a 10% tax on all imports – 60 percent of which come from our closest allies. Recent analysis found that Trump’s proposed tax would amount to a roughly $1,500 annual tax increase for the typical household, including a $90 tax increase on food, a $90 tax increase on prescription drugs, and a $120 tax increase on oil and petroleum products.


Joe Biden Is Working to Revitalize American Manufacturing and Present a United Front Against China

Joe Biden entered the White House in 2021 promising a new approach to trade based on turbo charging American manufacturing, doubling down on our allies across the globe, and confronting illegal and unfair trade practices by China and other bad actors.

As President, he has advocated for U.S. businesses and workers so that they can compete and thrive in the 21st century global economy, defended American workers against unfair trade practices, made significant investments in emerging industries that are critical to America’s future, and launched historic trade agreements with our friends and partners across the globe. As a result of his leadership, there is a manufacturing boom taking place across America – with hundreds of billions of dollars invested in industries that are creating the good-paying jobs and essential products right here at home. And the U.S. trade deficit with China is at its lowest point in more than a decade.

Here’s how Joe Biden’s leadership put the United States in position to win in this era of competition with China and other competitors around the globe:


Talking Points:

Revitalizing American Manufacturing

  • Biden’s policies have spurred an historic recovery in manufacturing, adding 642,000 manufacturing jobs in under two years of Biden’s leadership. Thanks to these efforts, inflation-adjusted spending on private manufacturing and industrial construction in America is at its highest point since 1964.

  • Biden’s policies leveled the playing field for American workers – ensuring that domestic manufacturers could compete in the most advanced technologies – and making sure those technologies don't go into weapons that could be used against us.

  • President Biden signed into law a bill that has spurred nearly $200 billion in clean energy manufacturing and electric vehicle supply chain investments, which have helped to create more than 170,000 jobs nationwide.

  • Semiconductors were invented in the United States, but when President Biden took office only about 10 percent of global supply was produced here – and none of the most advanced chips. President Biden passed legislation to fix this by investing nearly $53 billion in public and $231 billion in private investment in the American semiconductor manufacturing industry.

Rebuilding Alliances to Present a United Front Against China 

  • Going it alone doesn’t work, as the Trump model proves. An increasingly assertive China needs a strong, coordinated response from the United States and Europe, which share similar interests and together dominate global trade.

  • President Biden decreased trade tensions with our European allies, built partnerships to tackle global issues, and protected U.S. jobs and industry from China’s unfair trade practices.

Reducing our Trade Deficit with China

  • In 2023, thanks to President Biden's leadership, the U.S. trade deficit with China was nearly 10% lower than it was during Trump's last year in office – and hit the lowest level since 2010. Most experts predict that it will keep falling this year.