trump china
President Donald Trump.
Andy Wong/AP Images

  • China is ramping up its retaliation to President Donald Trump's massive tariffs.
  • China is set to put tariffs on $34 billion worth of US exports to China, starting in July.
  • The tariffs cover mostly energy and agricultural products but hit everything from goldfish to electric cars.
  • The states that exported more than $1 billion worth of tariff-eligible goods to China in 2017 were Texas, Louisiana, Washington, California, Alabama, South Carolina, Illinois, and Kentucky.

The collateral damage from President Donald Trump's trade fight with China could soon have some states feeling the squeeze.

China announced tariffs on $50 billion worth of imports from the US in response to Trump's tariffs on Chinese imports, an escalation of the brewing trade war between the two countries.

Also mirroring Trump's move, China's tariffs will be deployed in two waves — the first covering $34 billion worth of goods coming in early July.

The Chinese tariffs are focused on energy and agricultural products, covering goods including ornamental fish, whiskey, and coal. By singling out certain goods, the Chinese are also hitting some states harder than others.

To break down the effect by state, Business Insider used US Commerce Department data to determine the number of tariff-eligible goods from each state sent to China in 2017.

Because of the US database's limitations, the totals include some foreign-sourced goods that may not be subject to China's tariffs. Those goods represent a small portion of the overall values.

Additionally, the database measures exports using a system called Origin of Movement. This measures where exports are sent from rather than where they are produced. While research shows that Origin of Movement can be a solid proxy for production, the Census Bureau may provide an undercount for some upstream producers.

For instance, some farmers in the Midwest ship their soybeans to Louisiana for transport, which increases the count for Louisiana. Given the fact that Louisiana still relies on the shipping and sales for its economy, the data is still helpful to evaluate the pain from the tariffs — but it may undercount the lost value to some upstream producers.

There are eight states that exported more than $1 billion worth of tariff-eligible goods to China in 2017:

  • Texas: $8,022,380,040
  • Louisiana: $6,627,390,388
  • Washington: $5,231,988,100
  • California: $4,560,897,434
  • Alabama: $2,620,256,485
  • South Carolina: $2,588,390,677
  • Illinois: $2,123,222,976
  • Kentucky: $1,006,565,148

Many of these states have just a handful of goods that make up most of the coming pain.

Similarly, for Alabama, $1.9 billion of the state's $2.6 billion in tariff-eligible goods is small-engined vehicles.

In Texas, the biggest hit will come from crude oil (the state sent $3.7 billion worth to China last year) and propane; the state shipped $1.7 billion worth of that to China last year.

Andy Kiersz/Business Insider