US 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.
Who is the world’s top trading power?
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.
Who is the larger exporter?
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.
China’s main exports include:
- Machinery and electrical machines ($1.68 trillion), such as phones and computers, accounting for nearly one-third of total exports.
- Metals ($286bn).
- Textiles ($268bn).
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’s main exports include:
- Machinery and electrical machines ($447bn).
- Mineral products including fuels, oils, waxes and their derivatives ($364bn), accounting for nearly one-fifth of total exports.
- Chemical products ($245bn).
What do the US and China buy from each other?
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:
- Machinery and electrical machines ($212bn)
- Miscellaneous items such as toys, bedding and furniture ($57.9bn)
- Textiles ($31.9bn)
That same year, China bought $145bn worth of goods from the US, with the main goods including:
- Machinery and electrical machines ($30.8bn)
- Mineral products including fuels, oils, waxes and their derivatives ($24.1bn)
- Chemical products ($18.2bn)
Who has more debt?
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.
Who spends more on their military?
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.
Who consumes more energy?
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 energy consumer. In 2024, the country of 1.4 billion people consumed 48,477 TWh, with 80 percent generated by fossil fuels, mostly coal.
The US is the world’s second-largest energy consumer. In 2024, the country of nearly 350 million people consumed 26,349 TWh, also with approximately 80 percent coming from fossil fuels, mostly oil.
When it comes to green energy investments, however, China is surging ahead. According to the REN21 Global Status Report, in 2024 China spent $290bn on green energy, while the US spent $97bn.
Who is ahead in emerging technologies?
When it comes to emerging technologies, from artificial intelligence (AI) robots to electric vehicles, China is charging ahead at breakneck speed, though there are still areas where the US leads.
According to Morgan Stanley, the US leads the world in AI investment with $109bn in corporate spending in 2024 alone, nearly as much as the rest of the world combined.
It also has twice as many notable AI model releases as China, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Meta’s Llama – compared with China’s most notable release, DeepSeek.
The US also has an edge in semiconductors, with Nvidia’s CUDA software platform giving US chips a significant advantage over Chinese alternatives. Both countries, however, rely heavily on Taiwan, which produces almost 90 percent of the advanced chips needed for AI development.
Where China has surged ahead is electric vehicles. Almost half of all new cars sold in China in 2024 were electric, compared to about 10 percent in the US, helped by nearly $230bn in government subsidies between 2009 and 2024.
Who has more rare earth minerals?
China holds the world’s largest rare earth mineral reserves, with an estimated 44 million tonnes of known rare earth oxide deposits in 2024 – a little more than half of the world’s total.
China also dominates the processing of rare earths globally, meaning even minerals mined elsewhere often get sent to China to be refined, giving it influence well beyond just what is in the ground.
rare earth minerals are a group of 17 metallic elements that are essential components in modern technology, including electric vehicle batteries, wind turbines, smartphones, military equipment, and semiconductors.
The US has the seventh-highest known rare earth reserves in the world at 1.9 million tonnes, less than 5 percent of China’s, making it highly dependent on Beijing for rare earth imports.
Beijing has managed to outpace Washington in rare earth mining because it faces fewer obstacles. Where the US confronts regulatory and environmental concerns, China has been willing to absorb the environmental and social costs. rare earth mining is highly polluting, and the US has faced numerous lawsuits and compliance costs, making it expensive to keep mines open.
Rare earths have been a major flashpoint in tense trade negotiations between China and the US and are expected to be revisited during this week’s meeting.
Last year, President Trump threatened to levy a 100 percent trade tariff on China after it restricted exports of rare earth elements and equipment – an escalation which deepened the trade war between the two superpowers before a temporary truce was reached six months ago. China paused export blocks on exports of some of its rare earths.
What global groupings are they part of?
The US and China are part of a number of organisations jointly, such as the UN Security Council, the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the G20 and APEC.
Separately, China is part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and BRICS. It is also part of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
The US is part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the OECD, the G7, the Five Eyes Alliance and the trilateral security partnership AUKUS with Australia and the UK.
How do their growth models compare?
China’s economy is driven by the state, with heavy investment in infrastructure, industry and technology, a reliance on exports and long-term national planning rather than free-market forces.
Trump’s America First model takes a different approach: Tariffs, especially on China; tax cuts; deregulation; and a push to bring manufacturing back home. He has also publicly pressured the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, favoured one-on-one trade deals over global agreements, restricted immigration and pushed to reduce America’s dependence on China.
