According to the latest official data released by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) in February 2026, the structure of U.S. imports is rapidly changing, with a sharp decrease in China’s exports to the United States. From 2024 to 2025, Beijing’s exports to the U.S. decreased by about $130.4 billion, far exceeding the declines seen in other countries. In contrast, Taiwan, Mexico, Vietnam, India, and other countries are filling the gap left by China.
President Trump’s historic tariff policies have reshaped the 2025 trade landscape, with China’s share of exports to the U.S. experiencing historic declines.
According to BEA data, in 2025, the U.S. trade deficit with China decreased by $93.4 billion to $202.1 billion. U.S. exports decreased by $36.9 billion to $106.3 billion, while imports decreased by $130.4 billion to $308.4 billion.
According to a report from Politico, it is expected that by 2025, U.S. imports from China will decrease to $308 billion, the lowest level since 2009, representing a decrease of over 42% from the record $539 billion in 2018.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer stated in an interview with Fox Business Channel on Wednesday, February 25th, that despite the Supreme Court overturning comprehensive tariffs on global imports (including Chinese goods) last week, he plans to maintain the tariffs on Chinese goods.
Greer mentioned that the U.S. is seeking to maintain tariffs on Chinese goods within the range of 35% to 50%, with specific rates depending on the type of goods.
Analyses from Politico show that import products such as electronics, smartphones, and computers, which accounted for nearly half of the total U.S. imports from China, have seen a sharp decrease due to adjustments in the U.S. supply chain.
Over the past 25 years, the U.S. has imported nearly $950 billion worth of mobile phones and related equipment from China, with smartphones dominating in recent years. In 2017, the peak of U.S. imports of phones from China reached a record $72 billion, but it has since significantly decreased, with an estimated decrease to $30 billion by 2025.
The market share of Chinese imports in the U.S. phone market has also declined, dropping from a peak of 65% in 2018 to just 21% last year.
Other countries’ suppliers are filling this gap, with Vietnam holding approximately 22% of the market share, India 17%, and Thailand 13% in the $142 billion phone and equipment import market in the U.S.
Imports from India, especially in the mobile phone category, have nearly tripled, reaching $25 billion, with Indian smartphones accounting for 42% of the U.S. import market.
The share of imports from China has significantly decreased, from 26% in 2024 to only 4% in 2025. The value of computer products imported from China to the U.S. was about $11 billion last year, less than a third of the previous year’s imports. In 2021, computer equipment imports from China to the U.S. reached a record high of $61 billion.
While China’s computer exports to the U.S. have declined, the total amount of computer equipment imported by the U.S. has increased significantly – reaching $251 billion in 2025, far exceeding the previous year’s $140 billion.
Imports of computer equipment from Taiwan increased from $26 billion in 2024 to over $85 billion in 2025, and Mexico’s imports nearly doubled, reaching $90 billion. Imports from Vietnam and Thailand also saw considerable increases.
However, these sharp increases have raised concerns about “transshipment,” where products are manufactured in China, then transshipped through other countries to the U.S. The Trump administration has taken actions to impose heavy taxes on countries like Cambodia and Vietnam to prevent this practice.
China has traditionally dominated the U.S. import market for these products, with a market share exceeding 80% a decade ago. In 2025, imports of these products have significantly decreased to less than $19 billion, compared to $30 billion in 2024. This has reduced China’s share of U.S. imports to 53% in 2025. It is noteworthy that since the imposition of tariffs by Trump, the largest decline in the import share from China to the U.S. has been in electronic gaming machines, which dropped from 86% to about a quarter last year.
Imports of clothing, footwear, and textiles decreased from nearly $36 billion in 2024 to $24 billion in 2025, accounting for only about 20% of the U.S. import market for these products last year. A decade ago, these products held a 42% share of the import market.
In 2025, China’s market share in the U.S. plastic import market continued to decline, dropping about 5 percentage points from 2024 to 21%. Despite this, China remains the largest importer of plastic products to the U.S., with imports approaching $15 billion, surpassing Canada, Mexico, and Vietnam.
Imports of other electronic equipment products to the U.S. from China decreased from $12 billion to $6 billion. Among these products, video displays and audio equipment (such as speakers and microphones) saw the largest decline. Imports of other Chinese products, such as electric heaters and energy storage batteries, also decreased their market share in the U.S.
The decrease in imports of furniture, lighting, and bedding products from China expanded, with an estimated drop to $12.6 billion in 2025, compared to $18.5 billion in 2024. Vietnam benefited the most from the decrease in China’s market share, followed by Mexico.
In 2025, the U.S. imported around $5.4 billion worth of pharmaceuticals from China, lower than the nearly $8 billion the previous year. Chinese pharmaceutical imports account for less than 3% of the total U.S. pharmaceutical imports.
Fitch Ratings estimate that actual U.S. tariff rates on Chinese goods in November last year were 30.9%, whereas India’s actual tariff rate was 19.7%, Vietnam’s was 12.7%, the EU’s was 8.1%, Mexico’s was 4.2%, Canada’s was 3.7%, and Taiwan’s was 3.5%.
Financial writer You Ting-hao pointed out that Taiwan plays a key role in the U.S. supply chain reorganization, serving as a crucial alternative. Taiwan has benefitted the most from the reshoring of orders from China, with exports to the U.S. increasing by over 50% in 2025, adding $85.2 billion, becoming the biggest beneficiary of China’s shifting orders. In 2025, Taiwan officially surpassed South Korea, rising to become the 4th largest import source country for the U.S.