Tariff Fight Costs China Spot as Top U.S. Trading Partner

WASHINGTON—Escalating tariff disputes between Washington and Beijing cost China its position as the U.S.’s top trading partner in the first half of the year, as exports and imports between the two largest economies fell sharply.

U.S. imports from China fell 12% in the first six months of 2019 from a year earlier, while exports fell 19%, the Commerce Department said Friday in a monthly trade report. The total value of bilateral goods trade with China, $271.04 billion in the first half of the year, fell short of that with both Canada and Mexico for the first time since 2005. Mexico is now the U.S.’s top trading partner.