US Tariffs on China Hurt Local Job Market Growth, Economy

Pittsview, Alabama, home to 1,000 people, has a corner store, a clutch of churches and an abandoned train depot. Emporia, Virginia, population 5,500, has a casino, strip malls and truck stops. They’re the sort of forgotten communities that make up much of rural America. But if you want to understand the depth of the economic rivalry between the 21st century’s two superpowers, the US and China, they’re good places to start.

The two towns sit on opposite sides of a yearslong tariff battle over a mundane product the global economy needs to keep moving: shipping container trailers. The 1950s invention of the 40-foot steel container revolutionized international shipping and helped supercharge globalization. Once those boxes hit land, they have to be attached to a trailer chassis— essentially a long, skeletal bed frame with wheels—so trucks can haul them, and the products inside, across the country.