EDITORIAL: Our state depends on reliable trade policy

May 15-President Donald Trump's trip this week to China has broad implications for our region. Washington is the nation's most trade-dependent state, making it particularly susceptible to the president's mercurial approach to international relations.

As the Seattle-based Washington Council on International Trade wrote in summation of a March conference: "Tariffs and trade wars are having measurable effects on Northwest businesses. ... A return to rules-based, predictable trade policy would benefit Northwest businesses across sectors. Stability and consistency are what businesses need to plan, hire, and invest with confidence."

Trade, of course, is not the only issue on the table as Trump meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The United States' attack on Iran, China's saber-rattling toward Taiwan and Russia's expansionist goals are certain to be on the docket. Any meeting between leaders of the world's two most powerful nations, after all, is going to carry international significance.

But economics will be prominent in the discussion; according to the International Monetary Fund, the United States and China combine to create 42 percent of the world's gross domestic product.

Because of that, Trump has been accompanied on the trip by a roster of U.S. business leaders, including Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX and Tim Cook of Apple. And when Air Force One picked up Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang during a refueling stop in Alaska, it made international news. The fact that Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg has been included is promising for Washington's interests, but a lack of agricultural representatives ignores a significant portion of trade with China.

Those interests have been undermined by Trump's policies. The president launched a trade war during his first term, imposing tariffs while erroneously suggesting that trade deficits were harmful to the economy. He started his second term by imposing tariffs on nearly all nations, with the harshest penalties placed on goods from China. That led to counter-tariffs on American goods.

Since then, China has altered its strategy, Trump has reduced some tariffs, and the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down some tolls. The result is an uneasy truce between the nations.

As the New York Times explains: "China switched gears, restricting exports of certain rare-earth metals and magnets essential to aircraft, semiconductors and cars. While not all rare earths are scarce, China refines more than 90 percent of the global supply and its share is even higher for some of the most coveted varieties." That erodes Trump's preferred strategy of cajoling and bullying those he perceives as foes.

In some ways, the state of Washington is caught in the middle of this power play. By the fourth quarter of 2025, the value of exports from our state to China had declined 71 percent since the fourth quarter of 2024. Even with that reduction, China remained the No. 2 destination for goods from Washington, trailing Canada.

Meanwhile, the value of Chinese goods passing through Washington had declined 60 percent from the previous year, impacting Washington ports, manufacturers, importers, farmers and ranchers. Tariffs have boosted the cost of most of those items, with the increase being paid by American consumers.

All of this has a broad impact on our state's economy and highlights the importance of this week's meetings. Before his departure, Trump said, "We're going to have a great relationship for many, many decades to come." We hope there is some truth in that assessment.

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This story was originally published May 15, 2026 at 2:42 PM.