The latest tariffs announced by China on June 15 would tax goods that accounted for about $45 billion in U.S. exports last year. It’s a tiny speck of the nation’s thriving overall economy. But those tariffs are no broadside threat. They’re targeted with laserlike precision at farmers, ranchers and certain manufacturing workers, as well as at the local economies of rural and small-town America.
These maps, based on data from the Brookings Institution, show counties with workers in China-targeted industries, with the circle sizes representing their share of total jobs. The maps don’t predict if or how many jobs could be lost, but they do show a pattern of where jobs and communities are most exposed to fallout from further escalation of trade hostilities.
“It illustrates the way large international skirmishing ultimately touches down in very specific places, and often with small population but large dependence on particular industries,” said Mark Muro, senior fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings. “The possibility is here for significant disruption in America’s agricultural tier.”
Almost 1.6 million people work in the targeted industries, with about three-quarters working in farming, fishing and food-related manufacturing. The rest are primarily workers who make construction equipment, trucks, cars and vehicle parts.
While they didn’t account for the largest share of jobs affected, counties with the most exposed agriculture and food-related jobs include those in California that grow grapes, melons and strawberries and make wine: Fresno, Monterey, Kern, Stanislaus and Ventura counties. Those with the most exposed jobs related to auto manufacturing include Wayne County, Mich.; Jefferson County, Ky.; and Rutherford County, Tenn.
