Economic Benefits and Pollutants Emission Embodied in China–US Merchandise Trade—Comparative Analysis Based on Gross Trade, Value Added Trade and Value Added in Trade

Abstract

The main focuses of the Sino–US trade dispute are the issue of trade interests. If taking environmental costs into consideration, the trade interests are even more overestimated. There are different methods for measuring trade interests, and the results obtained under different methods differ. This paper uses the gross trade, value-added trade and value-added-in trade framework to calculate the economic gains and correspondent embodied pollution in China–US trade, compares the differences in results under different models and makes possible explanations. Our conclusions are as follows: (1) Traditional gross trade statistics have overestimated China’s economic benefits. The trade balance in gross trade was overestimated by 35% and 40% compared to the value-added trade and value-added-in trade. (2) China was a net exporter of embodied pollution and paid huge environmental costs from 1995 to 2011. (3) China’s exports are environmentally worse than the United States, and the calculation of pollution terms of trade proves that China paid a greater environmental cost for the same amount of economic benefits. (4) Different accounting frameworks have a great impact on the embodied pollution results at the industry level. Pollution based on value-added trade was more concentrated. The major polluting industries also changed.