US-China head-to-head: Explained in 11 maps and charts

Before President Trump’s visit to Beijing, Al Jazeera compares the US and China on economics, military and resources. xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogleAdd Al Jazeera on GoogleinfoBy Hanna Duggal and Marium AliPublished On 13 May 202613 May 2026US President Donald Trump will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on May 14 and 15, following weeks of delays due to the US-Israel war on Iran. The talks are expected to focus on trade relations and mark the first time a US president has visited China in nearly a decade. In recent decades, the US and China have emerged as the world’s dominant superpowers, frequently seen as locked in a contest for who sits atop the world order. A quarter of a century ago, by contrast, the US dwarfed China in most major indicators, but today, Beijing is regarded as the factory of the world and is outpacing its Western counterpart in many regards. In this head-to-head, we measure the two countries in terms of economics, military, resources and technology. Twenty-five years ago, the US was the world’s largest exporter, selling goods worth $729bn in 2001, while China ranked fourth at $266bn, about one-third of US exports, according to the World Bank’s World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS). At that time, only 30 economies traded more with China than with the US. Today, China is the world’s largest exporter, selling $3.59 trillion in goods globally compared with the US’s $1.9 trillion per year. Currently, 145 economies trade more with China than with the US. In 2024, China sold $3.59 trillion in goods and bought $2.58 trillion, producing a trade surplus of more than $1 trillion – the largest of any country. The US is the second-largest exporter in the world. In 2024, it sold $1.9 trillion worth of goods globally and bought $3.12 trillion, creating a large trade deficit. US President Donald Trump used the that trade deficit as justification for the trade tariffs he imposed on countries globally since returning to the White House in January last year. The US and China are significant trading partners, exchanging more than $500bn worth of goods in 2025, though trade has since fallen as the two countries exchanged retaliatory tariffs from the beginning of Trump’s second term. As it stands, the average effective US tariff on imports from China is about 31.6 percent, according to the Penn Wharton Budget Model. Meanwhile, China has imposed a series of tariffs on key US energy and agricultural exports, including a blanket 10 percent levy on all US imports, with surcharges on specific items. These range from 11 percent on propane and ethane to 77 percent on beef, according to the news agency Reuters. Despite this, the US remains China’s largest trading partner, while China ranks third for the US, behind Mexico and Canada. In 2024, the US bought $453bn worth of goods from China. The main goods include: That same year, China bought $145bn worth of goods from the US, with the main goods including: The US and China both carry significant debt, with US general government debt standing at 115 percent of GDP, while China’s stands at 94 percent of GDP. However, it is important to note that China’s debt is believed to be underestimated. The 2008 global financial crisis was a turning point for the US, when debt surged sharply as the government bailed out banks and provided economic stimulus. China’s debt has also grown, but more steadily, from about 22 percent of GDP in 2000 to about 34 percent in 2009, after which it began to incline even more steeply, mainly driven by infrastructure investment and local government borrowing, as opposed to crisis spending like the US. Both countries saw their debt levels surge dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic, as governments unleashed massive stimulus programmes to prop up their economies. The US allowed trillions of dollars in relief spending in the form of business loans and unemployment benefits, while China increased its infrastructure investments. The US national debt now exceeds $39 trillion, which is the highest level in history, while the exact level of China’s government debt is more difficult to establish. The US is the world’s biggest military spender, outpacing China by almost three times in dollar terms. According to the research institute SIPRI, the US spent $954bn or 3.1 percent of its GDP on its military in 2025, while China spent $336bn or 1.7 percent according to estimated figures. Together, the US and China make up more than half of the world’s total military spending. The US holds a clear advantage in air power, with three times as many aircraft and far superior support infrastructure. At sea, China has more ships numerically, but the US maintains a qualitative edge in firepower, submarines and aircraft carriers. Energy consumption in China has grown rapidly since the turn of this century as the country has ramped up its manufacturing industry and its economy has industrialised. Today, China is the world’s largest

US-China head-to-head: Explained in 11 maps and charts

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