America’s surging trade deficit with China has cost 115,700 jobs in Florida since 2001, and 3.2 million nationwide, according to a study released Thursday by the Economic Policy Institute.
Florida ranks seventh in the nation for lost jobs since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, with the overwhelming majority in manufacturing, the study found.
“This report leaves no doubt, if there ever was any, that nation’s staggering trade deficit with China continues to be the single biggest impediment to a true jobs recovery, especially in regions with heavy concentrations of high-tech manufacturing,” said Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, in a statement.
Global trade in advanced technology products — often cited as a source of comparative advantage for the United States — is now dominated by China. The trade deficit in the computer and electronic parts industry grew the most, resulting in more than 1.2 million jobs lost or displaced. In fact, $154.4 billion of the $324.2 billion U.S. trade deficit with China in 2013 was in computer and electronic parts, according to the report.
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The states suffering the worst job losses were California (564,200 jobs), Texas (304,700), New York (179,200), Illinois (132,500), Pennsylvania (122,600), North Carolina (119,600), Florida (115,700), Ohio (106,400), Massachusetts (97,200), and Georgia (93,700).
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