Despite growing Cold War tensions between the world’s two largest economies, trade between the US and China hit an all-time high last year, debunking theories about the two economies being separated. Bilateral trade reached $690.6 billion, with U.S. exports to China up $2.4 billion to $153.8 billion, with imports of Chinese products to the U.S. market up $31.8 billion, according to official figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce. dollars, reaching 536.8 billion dollars. This is evidenced by data from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis.

It reached $690.6 billion in 2022 despite efforts to decouple the two economies.

According to economic analysts, these data indicate that the alleged disunity of the two economies, that is, their interdependence in a wide range of industries, is more in the words of Washington officials than in reality. Speaking to CNN, Nick Maro, chief analyst at Economist Intelligence, said that “supply chains tend to stick to the same chains, especially those associated with China.” He believes that the US government is making efforts to reduce the supply chain’s dependence on China, but ultimately, businesses are most interested in getting their products to consumers on time and in a way that makes the best use of the costs of their operations. . The previous record for bilateral trade was set in 2018, when US-China trade reached $658.8 billion, according to official figures. Tariffs on tens of billions of dollars imposed by former US President Donald Trump on Chinese imports have remained in place ever since. Instead of abandoning these aggressive moves, current US President Joe Biden has quietly escalated the trade war. In October 2022, his government imposed new restrictions on technology exports to China in an effort to prevent it from gaining access to strategically important technologies and thereby preventing it from building up its military power.