The Economic Policy Institute reports in a briefing paper that the U.S.-China trade deficit (PDF) has cost 2.8 million U.S. jobs since 2001. This has had an effect across the country:
The trade deficit with China grew from $84 billion in 2001, when China entered the WTO, to $278 billion in 2010. It eliminated or displaced 2,790,100 jobs, or about 2% of total U.S. employment over that period. The biggest net losses, in terms of the total number of jobs displaced, occurred in California, Texas, New York, Illinois, Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Massachusetts and Georgia. In ten states, the jobs lost or displaced exceeded 2.2% of total employment. These states are New Hampshire, California, Massachusetts, Oregon, North Carolina, Minnesota, Idaho, Vermont, Colorado and Rhode Island.
A key part of the problem lies in Chinese currency manipulation:
Because China has pegged its currency to the U.S. dollar instead of allowing it to fluctuate freely, the yuan has remained artificially low, effectively subsidizing Chinese exports and artificially raising the cost of U.S. exports. U.S. goods are less competitive in China and in countries where U.S. exports compete with those from China.
The Alliance for American Manufacturing is renewing its call for either the Obama administration or Congress to declare China an illegal currency manipulator and take action.