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Ranked: America’s Top Exports to China by the Jobs They Support
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This chart ranks America’s top exports to China by the number of jobs supported in 2022, along with the value of goods and services in 2023.
Data is sourced from the US–China Business Council and includes services exports.
Top Exports From America Cover a Variety of Sectors
America’s largest export to China, oilseeds and grains, worth $18.5 billion, also supports the most American jobs (180,000) across the country.
However, the next episode of Trump tariffs could hit this industry particularly hard. We’ll dive into why in the next section.
| Rank | Top U.S. Exports | # Jobs Supported (2022) | Export Value (2023) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🌾 Oilseeds & Grains | 178.7K | $18.5B |
| 2 | 🎓 Education | 117.2K | $13.0B |
| 3 | 🥩 Meat Products | 32.2K | $4.5B |
| 4 | ✈️ Aerospace Parts | 29.0K | $6.8B |
| 5 | 💾 Semiconductors | 28.8K | $6.8B |
| 6 | 🌱 Misc. Crops | 28.4K | $2.4B |
| 7 | 💊 Medicines | 26.1K | $11.3B |
| 8 | ⚙️ Industrial Machinery | 24.4K | $5.0B |
| 9 | 🧭 Navigation Instruments | 23.0K | $6.8B |
| 10 | 🚗 Motor Vehicles | 21.9K | $6.1B |
| 11 | ⛽ Oil & Gas | 21.2K | $17.6B |
The second-largest export to China by value is oil and gas ($17.6 billion), but it ranks 11th by jobs, providing employment to about 21,000 people.
On the other hand, education exports to China generate employment for 117,000 people. It is second-largest by jobs supported.
Aerospace parts (29,000), semiconductors (28,800), industrial machinery (24,400) and car exports to China (21,900) all support thousands of manufacturing jobs in America.
U.S. Agriculture and China
Back to American agriculture and why its exports may come under fire.
Most of all U.S. agricultural exports (soybean, corn, beef, pork) are sent to China. And in 2018, it was this category of goods that were first selected for retaliatory tariffs. As a result, exports (and jobs) declined.
A new Trump tariff (adding a further 10% to Chinese imports) could spark more retaliation.
This would cause decline for U.S. agriculture exports, key to many Midwestern state economies.
And if China does retaliate, softer demand from the rest of the world means American producers can’t ship their goods elsewhere.
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Wondering what other export markets, aside from China, are key to U.S. jobs? Check out: America’s Most Important Trade Relationships for a breakdown.