China's total goods import and export value reached 45.47 trillion yuan in 2025, marking a year-on-year increase of 3.8%. The country maintained its position as the world's largest goods trading nation. Various provinces have leveraged their geographical advantages and resource endowments to actively contribute to the steady growth of China's imports and exports. This trade report card underscores the resilience and vitality of the Chinese economy.
Industrial upgrades are solidifying new foundations for foreign trade. At the port of Zárate in Argentina, the BYD Company Limited-owned new energy vehicle carrier "Changzhou" arrived, delivering over 5,800 new energy vehicles. This shipment represents the largest single import of Chinese-brand electric vehicles in Argentina's history and marks the first systematic entry of a Chinese automaker into the Argentine market using a self-operated fleet, direct sales model, and full product portfolio. The core confidence driving high-quality foreign trade development stems from iterative upgrades in industrial competitiveness.
As China's top foreign trade province, Guangdong led the nation for the 40th consecutive year in 2025 with import and export volumes reaching 9.49 trillion yuan. Light industrial products once synonymous with "Guangdong goods" have now evolved into a matrix of "new Guangdong goods" including electronic information and high-end equipment, with "high-end breakthroughs" becoming a distinctive feature. In 2025, Guangdong's exports of high-tech products exceeded 1 trillion yuan for the first time, reaching 1.14 trillion yuan.
At the Jiangyin Comprehensive Bonded Zone in Jiangsu, 36 wind turbine blades from Envision Energy were dispatched for overseas shipment. Jiangsu's foreign trade transformation path demonstrates "cluster-based upgrading" characteristics, with mechanical and electrical products accounting for over 70% of the province's exports for the first time in 2025, while advantageous products like electrical equipment and ships continued to lead.
In Yiwu, Zhejiang, the core landmark project of the sixth-generation market—the Yiwu Global Digital Trade Center—became operational. In 2025, the Yiwu China Commodity City Market recorded sampled transaction volumes exceeding 320 billion yuan, with a daily average of over 4,000 foreign traders, hitting a 10-year high. Zhejiang's foreign trade import and export scale reached 5.55 trillion yuan in 2025, with "digital transformation" becoming a distinct label for the province's foreign trade.
In 2025, seven provinces and municipalities—Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Shandong, Beijing, and Fujian—collectively achieved import and export volumes of 34.11 trillion yuan, contributing more than half of China's foreign trade growth and effectively stabilizing the fundamental trade landscape. Analysis of this trade report card reveals that China's exports are gradually shifting from "quantitative expansion" to a dual focus on "both quantity and quality enhancement." High-tech products have emerged as the leading force driving trade growth, with technology-intensive products contributing increasingly to this expansion.
Market diversification is building a new risk-resistant ecosystem. The complex and volatile global trade environment has prompted regions to accelerate the diversification of their international market layouts. Chinese foreign trade enterprises have deepened cooperation in traditional markets while expanding into emerging markets, effectively dispersing volatility risks associated with single markets and creating new incremental space for trade growth.
After a 14-day transcontinental journey across Eurasia, the first China-Europe freight train departing from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area this year successfully arrived at Małaszewicze, Poland. The 110 standard containers were filled with electronic products and daily necessities. Among these,
Enterprises have recently focused on transitioning from product export to industrial capacity export, extending the advantages of Chinese manufacturing to major global markets and collaborating with local partners to build a more open, synergistic, and mutually beneficial global innovation cooperation ecosystem. Guangdong's international market layout demonstrates characteristics of "stabilizing traditional markets while breaking into emerging markets." In 2025, Guangdong's imports and exports with its three major trading partners—ASEAN, the EU, and Hong Kong—each exceeded 1 trillion yuan. Trade with Belt and Road Initiative partner countries reached 3.66 trillion yuan, growing by 5%.
Zhejiang's international market expansion primarily focuses on "emerging markets," demonstrating strong market adaptation capabilities. In 2025, ASEAN surpassed the EU to become Zhejiang's largest trading partner for the first time, with import and export values reaching 869.07 billion yuan, a 16.5% increase. Yiwu's small commodities reach over 20 countries in Central Asia and Europe via the "Yixinou" railway route, forming a "buy global, sell global" small commodity trade network.
As an international shipping center, Shanghai's market layout highlights the advantages of "hub radiation + global allocation." In 2025, Shanghai's imports and exports with Belt and Road Initiative partner countries grew by 12.1%. Through the coordination of China-Europe freight trains and ocean shipping routes, Shanghai has become an important node connecting domestic and international markets.
Amid multiple challenges, the continuous optimization of China's foreign trade structure and new strides in market diversification are particularly noteworthy. In the rapidly changing international market environment, an increasing number of foreign trade enterprises are actively seeking change and taking initiative. Diversified international market channels provide risk buffers for enterprises and create platforms for product upgrades toward high-end branding. China is demonstrating full sincerity through expanding imports and fostering a win-win pattern of mutual integration, providing valuable stability and certainty for global economic and trade cooperation.
New business models are opening new channels for small and medium-sized enterprises to go global. The surge in foreign trade orders has created a race against time for frontline workers, as exemplified by the pre-Spring Festival scenario in Yiwu. Empowered by digital technology, upgraded logistics systems, and optimized policy environments, Chinese foreign trade enterprises are breaking the temporal and spatial constraints of traditional trade, enabling more companies to participate in global competition.
Focusing on "high-quality service enhancement and institutional openness breakthroughs," Shanghai achieved new heights in service trade during 2025. Annual service trade receipts and payments exceeded 250 billion US dollars, a 2.2% year-on-year increase, accounting for nearly 30% of the national total and maintaining the top position nationwide. Emerging producer services trade, which relies on digital technology and knowledge-intensive factors to provide intermediate services for manufacturing and commercial operations, showed positive development trends.
Jiangsu's innovation path demonstrates synergistic effects of "industrial e-commerce + supply chain finance." The cross-border e-commerce comprehensive service platform established in Suzhou integrates full-process services including customs declaration, logistics, tax rebates, and financing. In 2025, it drove a 35% growth in cross-border e-commerce exports by small and medium-sized enterprises.
Zhejiang's business model innovation uses "digital trade + market procurement" as dual engines. As a national pioneer in digital economy, Zhejiang saw exports through new models including market procurement, cross-border e-commerce, and bonded maintenance exceed 900 billion yuan in 2025, ranking first in the country.
China's foreign trade entities are increasingly engaging in new business models, using technological innovation to stimulate new trade momentum. Despite multiple challenges, they have taken new steps toward high-quality and diversified development. Experts suggest continuing to accelerate the development of new business models and formats such as cross-border e-commerce, overseas warehouses, and market procurement trade to explore new trade spaces.
China's high-quality foreign trade development represents not a single-dimensional improvement but a systematic transformation involving industrial upgrading, market diversification, and business model innovation. While China currently faces profound and complex changes in the external environment, foreign trade development still possesses numerous favorable conditions. Recently, Guangdong launched the large-scale "Guangdong Goods Go Global" campaign, focusing on helping foreign trade enterprises expand markets, strengthen industries, and build brands. Other major foreign trade provinces including Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai have also introduced measures to stabilize foreign trade and maintain growth.
The steps toward innovative trade development are becoming more solid, advantages more prominent, trade partners more diverse, and development resilience stronger. This will inject greater certainty into global economic and trade development.