This site is not updated. The Trade Deficit With China Fact sheet released by the Bureau of Public Affairs, U.S. Department of State, June 17, 1997. Building a wall of protection around the United States by revoking MFN could provoke Chinese retaliation that would put at risk the 170,000 high-paying American jobs supported by exports to China. Over the past few years, China has been one of the fastest growing markets for U.S. exports.
China is already a major customer for key U.S. products.
Since every other major trading partner extends MFN status to China, revoking MFN would give Japanese and European competitors a competitive edge in developing Chinese markets from the ground up, jeopardizing billions of dollars in future U.S. exports. Although serious trade problems remain, our continued engagement with China has opened up discussion on a range of issues China refused to discuss just a few years ago. In the past year, Chinese authorities have closed over 39 pirate CD factories and seized more than 10 million pirated disks. China's elimination of over 1,000 quotas and licensing requirements on imports of key high-tech U. S. products has contributed to a rise of nearly 200 percent in U.S. exports of telecommunications equipment to China since 1992. The deficit reflects China's specialization in inexpensive, mass-market consumer goods.