The 2018 U.S. initiation of trade hostilities against China precipitated significant domestic interest cleavages among American states. Divergent state-level alignments materialized with certain states emerging as staunch proponents of the "lose-lose" tariff confrontation

others constituting vigorous dissenters

and a residual cohort maintaining strategic ambivalence. Grounded in industrial geography theory

this study develops a state-level typology of U.S. policy preferences toward China trade through systematic analysis of sectoral trade structure and dependence on trade with China as foundational dimensions. Our analytical framework identifies four archetypal orientations in subnational trade policy dispositions: Economic Engagement

Straddling

Economic Containment and Issue-Linkage. Structural interdependence between sectoral composition and China-specific dependence configurations determines heterogeneous economic interests across states. These aggregated subnational preferences undergo political transduction via electoral mechanisms to federal policymakers in the Executive and Legislative branches

with final U.S. trade policy toward China emerging through contested inter-branch bargaining processes.