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The China Initiative (from 8) who accompanied Nixon on his visit, called
the changes since 1972, as well as the
Next month will be the 50th anniversary progress in U.S.-China economic relations,
of President Richard Nixon’s historic visit “northing short of breathtaking.”
to China, the first time a U.S. president
visited the Peoples Republic. 70-fold trade increase
“In 1972, U.S.-China two-way trade in
goods was a mere $95.9 million. By 1985
— just a few years after Deng’s reform
and opening — this volume had increased
more than 70-fold to $7 billion.
“In the 25 years between 1985 and 2010,
two-way trade in goods increased from $7
billion to $365 billion. U.S. goods exports
to China reached $103.9 billion in 2011
–a more than a 25-fold increase, from the
$3.9 billion of exports to China in 1985.”
President Richard Nixon and China’s Premier Zhou Enlai share a According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s of-
historic toast in February 1972. On his trip, Nixon also met with
Chairman Mao. (Official Photo) ficial figures, in 2021, the U.S. exported
goods worth $137,680 billion to China.
February visit Imports to the U.S. were $456,832 billion,
On Feb. 21, 1972, President Nixon arrived leaving the U.S. with a deficit balance of
in China for an official visit, the first by a trade of $319,151 billion.
U.S. leader since the PRC was formed in
1949. Most valuable exports
China’s most valuable exports in 2020
Fifty years ago, China was a distant, largely were, first, electrical machinery, followed
unknown and isolated country. There had by machinery in general. Furniture and
been no communication or diplomatic ties computers were third, followed by plastic
between the two countries. and plastic articles.
This seven-day visit is seen as the key nor- China’s top three export destinations are
malizing event between the U.S. and the the United States ($499 billion), Hong
PRC. In 1979, the U.S. established diplo- Kong ($282 billion) and Japan ($155 bil-
matic relations with China. lion), according to commodity.com.
Nixon called this visit, “the week that The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Chi-
changed the world.” The former president na was worth $14722.73 billion in 2020,
could not have known how correct he was. according to official data from the World
Bank.
At the time of Nixon’s visit, China’s econ-
omy was based completely on agriculture. The GDP value of China represents 13.04
Rice and tea were king. percent of the world economy. The PRC’s
GDP is second only to that of the U.S. — a
Speaking in March 2021, just after the 40th far cry from the day President Nixon
anniversary of Nixon’s trip, Robert D. Hor- next page
mats, then-under secretary for energy
