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Other CategoriesThis year, despite the fact that external uncertainties and risks have significantly increased and the negative impacts of geopolitical conflicts have spread, China's foreign trade has managed to thrive against the odds and has achieved stable growth with improved quality.
The import volume has increased by over 20% year-on-year for three consecutive months. The import and export of artificial intelligence-related products have been expanding month by month. The total import and export to African countries has exceeded 1 trillion yuan for the first time in the historical period... The General Administration of Customs recently released data showing that in the first five months of this year, China's foreign trade imports and exports reached 20.68 trillion yuan, with the year-on-year growth rate continuing to rise to 15.3%, accelerating by 0.4 percentage points compared to the previous four months. This fully demonstrates the vigorous vitality of China as the world's largest goods trading nation.
The remarkable achievements in the upward trend and advancement towards new horizons in data are largely attributed to the continuous optimization of the overall structure of foreign trade, the continuous strengthening of new driving forces, and the increasingly wider opening-up of the country. These are all powerful supports and boosts that bring about the necessary "qualitative changes".
The qualitative change is reflected in a more optimized import and export structure. Looking at imports, from January to May, while the import volume reached a new historical high for the same period, the import of high-tech products increased by 31.2%, and the imports of bulk commodities and consumer goods also maintained a relatively fast growth rate. The advantages of China's large-scale market continue to be unleashed. As for exports, in the first five months, the exports of high-tech and high-value-added mechanical and electrical products reached 7.58 trillion yuan, growing by 18.4% year-on-year, accounting for 63.6% of China's total exports in the same period. The export of integrated circuits performed strongly, and the exports of "the new three things" such as electric vehicles, lithium batteries, and photovoltaic products continued to lead globally. With a complete and efficient industrial chain system as the foundation, the global recognition of "Made in China" and even "Innovated in China" is constantly rising.
The qualitative change is manifested in a more diverse "friend circle" market. In recent years, China has continuously deepened its presence in the global market, with the construction of diversified markets advancing in depth. The trade layout has become more balanced and stable. By the end of 2025, China has maintained trade relations with nearly 250 countries and regions. From January to May this year, China's imports and exports to countries participating in the "Belt and Road Initiative" increased by 13.6%, accounting for over 51%. Exports and imports to ASEAN, the European Union, Africa, and Latin America all maintained double-digit growth. The "friend circle" of win-win cooperation has become increasingly extensive.
The qualitative change is also reflected in a more open attitude. From June 22nd to 26th, the world's first national-level exhibition themed on supply chains - the Fourth China International Supply Chain Promotion Expo - will be held in Beijing; in the second half of the year, national-level exhibition platforms such as the Canton Fair and the China International Import Expo will continue to provide support. In the new era, China is committed to building an open world economy, striving to create a market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized business environment, actively sharing China's large market opportunities with other countries, and the door of opening up will open wider and wider.
The outline of the "14th-15th Five-Year Plan" states that "we should accelerate the building of a trade powerhouse and promote the improvement and enhancement of foreign trade efficiency." The dual "improvement" in foreign trade, in terms of both quantity and quality, is driven by the fact that from the top leadership down, a strategy of promoting high-level opening-up has been adopted as the guiding principle, and strategic measures such as "accelerating the cultivation of new export driving forces" and "promoting the optimization and upgrading of goods trade" have been implemented and achieved results.
Just as the spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce said in answering media questions recently, "No matter how complex and volatile the external environment is, China will unswervingly promote high-level opening-up. With more practical measures, it will stabilize exports and expand imports, injecting more stability and positive energy into the world economy." In the future, as industrial upgrading continues to deepen, institutional opening-up progresses steadily, and the global economic and trade cooperation network improves, China's foreign trade will continue to consolidate its development trend of improving quality and efficiency. It will release new driving forces in the coordinated development of domestic and foreign markets and continuously empower China's high-quality economic development and the stability and prosperity of global economic trade.
