While hosting race car drivers at the White House, President Donald Trump explained his decision to pause country-by-country tariffs, while raising tariffs on goods imported from China, which are now 145%. 

Trump focused on the importance of weaning the U.S. off Chinese goods.

“China was by far the biggest abuser in history,” he said at the April 9 event. “Somebody had to do it. They had to stop because it was not sustainable. Last year, China made $1 trillion off trade with the United States. That’s not right.”

Trump repeated the $1 trillion figure five times over the week, describing it as both a “surplus” for China and a loss or “deficit” for the U.S. 

China did not make $1 trillion off trade with the United States in 2024.

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The best estimate for China’s 2024 trade surplus with the U.S. is between one-quarter and one-third of that amount, depending on what metric is used.

We looked at 2024 trade data for goods alone and for goods and services. Although the total value of Chinese exports to the U.S. and the U.S. trade deficit with China are both well above what they were more than 15 years ago, none of the figures come close to $1 trillion.

In 2024, the U.S. imported $439 billion in goods from China, and it exported $144 billion there. That left the U.S. with a $295 billion trade deficit for goods alone.

For the broader measure of goods and services, the U.S. imported $463 billion from China in 2024, and exported $199 billion. That’s a trade deficit of $263 billion in goods and services.

Neither the value of China’s exports to the U.S., nor the U.S. trade deficit with China, approached  $1 trillion in 2024.

Those numbers also haven’t come close to $1 trillion in previous years. 

The largest value of goods imported from China in any single year was $538.5 billion, in 2018 during Trump’s first administration.

And the widest annual U.S. trade deficit with China in goods and services was $377.7 billion, also in 2018.

The White House did not provide a source for the $1 trillion figure, instead sharing a statement that criticized Democrats’ response to Trump’s action on China.

Our ruling

Trump said in 2024, “China made $1 trillion off trade with the United States.”

One way to look at his statement is to consider the value of Chinese exports to the U.S. In 2024. China exported $439 billion in goods to the U.S., less than half of Trump’s figure.

Another way is to consider the size of the United States’ trade deficit in goods with China. In 2024, that was $295 billion, less than one-third of what Trump said.

Adding in the U.S. trade in services to the trade in goods leaves a $263 billion deficit with China.

We rate the statement False.