Trump's Tariffs: Only 5% of Chinese exports heavily dependent on US, India's dependence level at 16%

Trump tariffs to hurt China less, Brazil and India more

A country’s plans to counter US reciprocal tariffs would hinge on the extent of their reliance on America as a market for their exports. A Moneycontrol analysis has indicated that of the 55 countries with which the US runs significant trade deficit, 24 had more than 10 per cent of their trade items heavily dependent on America, and it does not include China.

President Donald Trump on February 13 had announced reciprocal tariffs in a bid to reduce the US’ trade deficit with other countries. A previous MC analysis had found that the US ran a deficit with as many as 110 nations, compared to 97 countries in 2012.

It is considered export dependence if any item has over 33 percent of its shipment head to only one country.

Data for 2023 shows that 16 percent of India's over 1,100 items exported to the US have high reliance on the American market, accounting for over 33 percent of the export share of those items. In 2023, as much as 94 percent of India's export of items such as solar panels went to USA. For fish, uranium and thorium ores, a massive 90 percent of India's trade was dependent on USA.

India's 76 items out of the 1,115 exported to US - which amounts to 7 percent - have more than half of the shipment heading to America. This accounts for $9.2 billion of the $75.8 billion worth of goods exported by India in CY23.

How Are Nations Placed

Mexico and Canada face the biggest threat of tariffs on America's imports, with over 90 percent of export by these two countries depended on the USA.

Cambodia's 54 percent of the items had over 33 percent of exports headed to the USA, underlining the high reliance.

China was much more shielded, with just 5 percent of the exported items having more than 33 percent dependence on the USA.

However, China had 16 items, where over 50 percent of exports were headed to the American mainland. Of these, three items had over 80 percent shipment headed to the USA and another 40 items had 70-80 percent dependence to the US market.