Abstract: Sino-US trade frictions are caused by the trade balance and differences in values between China and the United States. With the rapid development of economic and trade relations between the two countries, trade frictions have become more and more serious. The United States has repeatedly claimed that the trade deficit between China and the United States has led to the deterioration of the employment situation in the United States. This paper combines theoretical and empirical analysis to analyze the impact mechanism of trade balance on employment. It takes quarterly data of the trade deficit between the United States and China, the number of unemployed people in the United States, the gross domestic product of the United States and the productivity of the United States from 1993 to 2018 to do empirical research. The results show that in the long run, the trade imbalance between China and the United States is not the main reason for the increase in the number of unemployed people in the United States. The impact of US labor productivity and GDP is even greater. In the short run, the Sino-US trade deficit has even reduced the number of unemployed people in the United States to some extent. Therefore, it is unreasonable and unobjective to attribute the US employment problem to China's long-term trade surplus with the United States.