Question

Is President Trump's claim that china caused 60,000 U.S factories to close true?

Answer 1

According to the United States Census Bureau, between 2001 and 2015, a total of  59,794 manufacturing establishments were closed in the USA. Therefore, the '60,000' figure mentioned by President Trump is correct. However, there is no clearly conclusive evidence that all these factories were closed because of import from China. China definitely played a huge role in the decline in manufacturing in the USA. However, other factors like falling competitiveness, high labor cost, automation, etc. all contributed to the decline of manufacturing in the USA.

Reference: Rizzo, S., Rizzo, S., Post, W., Trump, D., & in remarks at the White House, D. (2018). Analysis | President Trump’s claim that China caused 60,000 U.S. factories to close. Washington Post. Retrieved 27 March 2018, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2018/03/26/president-trumps-claim-that-china-caused-60000-u-s-factories-to-close/?utm_term=.8028cbf1c66c