40% of Americans say they won’t buy « Made in China » and recent trade data suggest they just might mean it.
A survey this month of more than 1,000 U. S. adults found that 40% say “I will not purchase products made in China.” Recent trade data show they just might mean it this time.
Suppose, overnight, Americans stopped buying Chinese products. Some store shelves would be empty, and prices would be higher. One way or another, our economy would shrink.
By how much is hard to say. If 40% of our imports from China disappeared, then 1.26% of GDP would disappear: Imports are approximately 15% of U. S. consumption, and China’s share of that is about 21%, so our imports from China represent 3.15% of GDP. Forty percent of that is 1.26%.
Over time, Americans would do without, buy it from another country, or make it here at home, albeit at a higher price.
If China reciprocated and stopped buying from us overnight, another 7.2% of our GDP would be directly affected, either though those transactions disappearing or those goods being sold someplace else (albeit at a lower price—if other countries would pay more than China, we’d already be selling there instead).
Of course, it’s not that simple. There are also indirect effects. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development data show that 15.5% of our exports have foreign content, and some of that is from China.
