Containers sit at the Yangshan Port in Shanghai, China, Aug. 6, 2019. Aly Song | Reuters

The U.S. has lost 3.7 million jobs since 2001 due to its trade imbalance with China, with most of the damage done to manufacturing, according to a report released Thursday. As the deficit has continued to swell, American workers have suffered, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C., generally considered to be left leaning. Among the study's findings: Some 1.7 million jobs have disappeared since the beginning of the financial crisis in 2008; of the total losses, 2.8 million, or about three-quarters, have come from manufacturing; and the deficit continues to grow, with employment taking a hit across all 50 states even as nonfarm payrolls have continued to grow.

President Donald Trump has made closing the gap a priority of his administration. Along those lines, he has instituted billions of dollars in tariffs, though tensions between the sides have eased somewhat following an agreement on a "phase one" deal.

The report cites a variety of factors used to calculate the job losses. One of the big issues it cites is the admission of China into the World Trade Organization, a move that was supposed to boost U.S. exports to China but instead resulted in a flood of dumped goods and a wave of outsourcing that has hit manufacturing and technology particularly hard. The authors also were critical of China's previous moves to devalue its currency, which benefits exports.