This statistic shows the estimated value of the retaliation limits permitted by the World Trade Organization for major trading partners of the United States should a case be brought against the United States as a result of President Trump's proposed tariff on steel and aluminum imports, as of March 2018. The retaliation limit is based on the estimated export losses due to Trump's trade tariffs. Should such a case be successful these figures show the retaliation capacity of each country as they could then impose tariffs against the United States on other products to the prescribed value without breaking World Trade Organization regulations.

It is estimated that if the case were successful, Canada would be able to impose tariffs on U.S. imports to the value of 3.2 billion U.S. dollars. This retaliation limit would be awarded to them by the World Trade Organization, allowing tariffs that would normally risk sanctions. The 3.2 billion U.S. dollar retaliation limit would be afforded to Canada in response to the expected 2 billion U.S. dollars in lost steel exports and 1.2 billion U.S. dollars in lost aluminum exports if the tariffs were to be imposed.

According to estimates, President Trump's proposals to impose universal tariffs as well as tariffs on Chinese, Canadian, and Mexican imports would considerably increase the average tariff rate. If Trump's proposals go into effect, it is estimated that the average tariff rate of all imports would almost triple, marking the highest rate in the United States since 1969.

Tariffs have long been central tool in global trade policy. Learn how tariffs affect critical US industries, and how businesses are navigating their impacts.

In 2023, Chinese exports of trade goods to the United States amounted to about 427.23 billion U.S. dollars; a significant increase from 1985 levels, when imports from China amounted to about 3.86 billion U.S. dollars. U.S. exports to China Compared to U.S. imports from China, the value of U.S. exports to China in 2020 amounted to 427.23billion U.S. dollars. China is the United States’ largest trading partner, while China was the United States third largest goods export market. Some of the leading exports to China in the agricultural sector included soybeans, cotton, and pork products. Texas was the leading state that exported to China in 2020 based on total value of goods exports, at 16.9 billion U.S. dollars. U.S. - China trade war The trade war between the United States and China is an economic conflict between two of the world’s largest national economies. It started in 2018 when U.S. President Donald Trump started putting tariffs and trade barriers on China, with the intent to get China to conform to Trump’s wishes. President Trump claimed that China has unfair trade businesses. As a result of this trade war, it has caused a lot of tension between the U.S. and China. Nearly half of American companies impacted by the U.S.-China trade tariffs said that the trade war increased their cost of manufacturing. The healthcare product industry has suffered the most from the trade war in regards to reduced profits.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, the value of exports from the United Kingdom amounted to approximately 206.3 billion British pounds, while imports to the country amounted to around 217.8 billion pounds, resulting in a trade deficit of around 11.5 billion pounds in this quarter. During this time period, the value of UK exports was highest in the fourth quarter of 2022, with the value of imports peaking in the third quarter of 2022. The UK's main trade partners Despite the UK leaving the EU in 2020 following the Brexit referendum of 2016, Europe remains the main destination for UK exports, with almost half of UK exports heading there in 2023. During the same year, just over 60 percent of imports came from European countries, compared with around 17.9 percent from countries in Asia, and 11.8 percent from the Americas. In terms of individual countries, the United States was the UK's leading export partner for both goods and services from the UK, while Germany was the main source of UK goods imports, and the U.S. for service imports. It is as yet unclear how the return of Donald Trump to the White House will impact UK/US trade relations, should the President follow through with threats made on the campaign trail to increase trade tariffs. Brexit rethink under Starmer? Although generally more pro-European than the previous government, the new Labour government, led by Keir Starmer, does not plan to rejoin the European Union, or the Single Market. Public opinion, while gradually turning against Brexit recently, has not coalesced around a particular trading relationship. In late 2023, a survey indicated that while 31 percent of British adults wanted to rejoin the EU, a further 30 percent wanted to simply improve relations with the EU, instead of rejoining. Just 11 percent of respondents wanted to join the single market but not the EU, while 10 percent were happy with the relationship as it was. At the start of 2025, after several months in office, the new government has not signalled any major change in direction regarding on this, but has broadly signalled it wants a better relationship with the EU.