Trump, Biden policies shifted trade from China, study shows

Containers are seen at the Yangshan Deep-Water Port in Shanghai. [Reuters]

U.S. trade has shifted away from China due to policies enacted by the Biden and Trump administrations, but U.S. reliance on China-linked supply chains has not necessarily been reduced and consumers have faced higher costs, according to new research presented Saturday at a Federal Reserve economic symposium.

Despite deglobalization fears after the coronavirus pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, overall trade "has held steady at just under 60% of world (gross domestic product) rather than gone into freefall," Laura Alfaro, an economist at Harvard Business School, and Davin Chor, an associate professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, concluded in their paper, which was presented at the annual gathering of central bankers and economists in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.