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by Projectiboga 1714 days ago
America exported things to China in the 19th century. One random example is many rickshaws used in Asia back then were made in Burlington NJ. New Jersey built up a huge light industrial base over the 17th & 18th centuries as they were the initial colonial iron source. They also had a special surface water high in tannic acid which was key to successful transoceanic navigation. That water stayed clean. So even as those two industries declined they had plenty of timber and steel machinery to make into finished products which were easy to ship on the rivers from there to the ports on the Delaware river.