Receipt
Rapid Response 47
Our trade deficit with China has plummeted to the lowest level in four decades.
Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47)
Our trade deficit with China has plummeted to the lowest level in four decades.
Verdict: Missing context.
The deficit with China did fall, from $297.0B in 2024 to $202.7B in 2025. But Census shows 2025 was about level with 2005, and every year from 1985 through 2004 was lower. This year's deficit is the lowest since 2004, about 22 years, not four decades.
- Period checked
- Census U.S. goods trade with China, every year from 1985 through August 2026
- Data pulled
- Primary source
- https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html
- Source archive
- https://web.archive.org/web/20261006190342/https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html
- Our post on X
- https://x.com/NotTrueBot/status/2107548744002769149
- Date