Submission by Dr. Glenn Mollette
What does China export to the United States? Items include electronics, machinery, furniture, bedding, clothing, footwear, toys, cars, motorcycles, medical equipment, needles, and catheters. And of course, there’s more.
These and other products made up a significant portion of the more than $48.83 billion in exports China sent to the U.S. in December 2024 alone. For the entire year, it was over $600 billion.
To break it down:
- Computers: $34.2 billion
- Phones: $23.2 billion
- Televisions: $4.3 billion
- Semiconductors: $3.4 billion
- Industrial machines: $8.5 billion
- Printing machinery: $1.3 billion
- Textile machines: $1.2 billion
- Vaccines: $1.1 billion
- Insulin: $134 million
- Furniture: $15.5 billion
- Footwear: $5.6 billion
These numbers are based on 2022 trade data, so the dollar amounts are always changing—but they give us an idea of how dependent we’ve become on China. And this isn’t comprehensive. There are various other medicines and items China exports to us. For example: Tylenol, Advil, Motrin, Amoxicillin, Keflex, blood pressure medications, Hydrochlorothiazide, Metformin, Vitamin C, aspirin, insulin tablets, and more.
Does this scare you? It might—because we import so much from China. But it should also make us angry. How did we get ourselves into this mess?
American companies outsourced our jobs to cheap labor markets like China, where products are made by people working for slave wages. These goods were produced cheaply and sold back to us. The American people lost jobs and opportunities to provide for their children because much of our manufacturing was sent elsewhere.
These companies have gotten away with this for over 30 years, while Americans were left to work for McDonald’s, Walmart, Starbucks—and pray to God every day that they might earn $12 or $13 an hour. We allowed our automobile industry to suffer. We buried our energy industry. We became dependent on China, Vietnam, Japan, and other countries.
Thus, Walmart became America’s store—because people can go there and buy cheaply. Walmart and Dollar General are now among the only stores most Americans can afford. They’re no longer the top choice because they’re cheap—they’re the only choice. And hold on: because of tariffs, even Walmart will become more expensive.
Can anyone answer why we allowed this slow-growing—but nearly fatal—economic cancer to invade our mindset and our country? We didn’t protect ourselves. We looked out for the world while letting our own country suffer. Now, we are undergoing a painful period of economic surgery and treatment.
It’s way past time to bring manufacturing back to America. It won’t happen overnight. In the meantime, remember—numerous other countries manufacture medicine. India exports over $9 billion a year. Ireland over $8 billion. Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Canada, the UK, Israel, and Singapore also export billions of dollars’ worth of medicine annually. There are other options besides China.
The same goes for electronics, toys, furniture, and shoes. Take toys, for example: yes, China exports 85% of our toys, but other countries also manufacture them. Vietnam exported $3.4 billion worth of toys last year. Indonesia and Thailand each exported over $4 billion. There are other places for us to buy toys.
We can find a way to live without China. It’s way past time.
