Ensuring the stabilization and expansion of foreign direct investment is one of the key priorities in current economic efforts. Exploring the impact of trade friction on foreign divestment and understanding the underlying causes is of great significance for stabilizing foreign investment in the new situation. It took China’s counter-tariff measures against the United States during the Sino-US “trade war” as a starting point to examine the effects of trade friction on foreign divestment in China. It further examined how the increased uncertainty of the import supply chain under trade friction affected foreign divestment in the industrial chain correlation. The findings are as follows. Trade friction exacerbates foreign investment withdrawal in China, especially for export-oriented enterprises, enterprises with a high concentration of imports and those not undergoing digital transformation. Trade friction increases uncertainty of the import supply chain, which is a key factor contributing to foreign divestment. The rising uncertainty of the import supply chain also has spillover effects on foreign divestment in the same industry as well as upstream and downstream industries. The research conclusions can provide a new perspective to explain the phenomenon of foreign divestment in China under trade friction, and also provide a policy basis for achieving “stable foreign investment” from the supply chain aspect.