Abstract: Under the background of China’s “Carbon Peak” and “Carbon Neutrality” and the effective implementation of the United States’ carbon tax policy, based on the UNCOMTRADE database, CEADs database, and HS commodity classification, the input-output table to identify the carbon-intensive industries in China and the US was employed, categorizing them into traditional carbon-intensive industries and fully carbon-intensive industries. Then, the trade situation of carbon-intensive industries between China and the United States from the perspectives of competitiveness and complementarity was systematically analyzed by using empirical measurement indicators of multiple indexes. The results indicated that, compared to the traditional carbon-intensive industries in the United States, China’s traditional carbon-intensive industries had a lower level of exports, with both countries demonstrating relatively weak competitiveness and complementarity. Concerning fully carbon-intensive industries, both China and the United States were major exporters of carbon-intensive products, exhibiting concurrent trade competitiveness and complementarity. Additionally, the United States was utilizing China’s carbon emissions, leading to China incurring higher environmental costs.

Key words: input-output table, carbon-intensive industries, competitiveness, complementarity, trade with the US