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“to accelerate the building of a trading power, to upgrade trade in goods, to innovate trade in services, and to develop digital trade” “to gradually expand into and out of a trade power and to promote a shift from a trading power to a trading power” ... A series of major strategic arrangements at the heart of the party centre, with Comrade Xi as its core, will provide a way forward for new trade powers in the new era. Trade is an important vehicle for connecting domestic and external economic cycles and building new patterns of development, as well as a powerful engine for economic growth. The “Fifty-Fifty Five” programme outlines the acceleration of the building of strong trading nations, the promotion of efficiency gains in foreign trade and the promotion of balanced export and import development. In the 18 years since the Party’s 18th century, various sectors have been deeply engaged in Xi Jinping’s economic philosophy, determined to expand high levels of external openness, accelerating the pace of trade power-building, and promoting the continued stability of trade power positions, so that open innovation can respond to the global trade transition, and cooperative win-wins can give a strong boost to world economic development. Strengthening strategic leadership and building the foundations of a trading power.

On 20 May, 115,000 tons of tankers were officially delivered, constructed by heavy crews of the Chinese ship ' s main ship. Since the beginning of this year, new orders have been made for the shipbuilding industry in my country, taking over 90 per cent of the world's super-large tankers. Ships under construction (unmanned aerial photographs) taken on 2 February 2026 in the Zonchon Seaworks Industry, Nantung City, Jiangsu Province. In the first four months of this year, our total value of goods trade exports and imports amounted to $16.23 trillion, an increase of 14.9 per cent over the previous year. During the same period, China ' s exports of high-technology and high-value-added electric and power products accounted for 63.5 per cent of total exports. It didn't have to happen. The current 100-year change has accelerated, the international situation has changed and the new technological revolution and industrial transformation have reshaped the global competitive landscape. China ' s foreign trade has grown in a negative and steady way, as evidenced by the steady pace of progress from the large trading countries to the strong trading countries. In 2013, China jumped into the largest trade in goods, a historic leap in foreign trade. However, large size was not equal to strong competitiveness, when the “large and weak” contradictions of weak traditional Chinese low-cost manufacturing advantages and lagging trade in high-value-added services were highlighted. On 5 December 2014, the Secretary-General of Xi stated during the nineteenth collective study of the Central Political Bureau of the 18th CCP that “we must take stock of the situation and try to take the lead and win the initiative in the globalization of the economy” and stressed “the need to accelerate the transition from a trading power to a trading power”. In the 18 years of its existence, the central party, with Comrade Xi at its centre, has managed to keep up with the momentum of the times, adapted to historical trends and consolidated both the domestic and the international levels, promoted high levels of openness to the outside world, and made historic achievements in our foreign trade and steadily moved towards a trading power. Building trade power provides important support for accelerating the construction of a new development landscape. The construction of a new development landscape is an open domestic and international double cycle, not a closed one. Foreign trade is a key hub for the smooth flow of both domestic and international cycles and is one of the “troikas” that drive economic growth. On 9 May 2026, trucks exporting Africa were loaded into the Central African liner (unmanned aerial photographs) at a smoke port in Shandong port. The total value of our exports and imports since the Fourteenth Five-Year Review has exceeded RMB 40 trillion and RMB 45 trillion, with an average annual increase of 7.1 per cent and an average annual increase of 7.9 per cent in the export and import of high-technology products, a strong position of trade in goods and a steady increase in the “new” “green” volume of foreign trade. Building a strong trading power would facilitate better use of both domestic and international resources, promote market convergence, industrial integration, innovation and rules, promote high-level science and technology self-reliance, enhance the resilience and security of the industrial chain supply chain, engage in a global division of labour and cooperation, and create a virtuous circle at a higher level of openness. Building a trading power is an objective requirement for meeting the needs of people for a better life. From cross-border electric power suppliers to warehousing logistics, from off-shore trade to bonded maintenance, new patterns of foreign trade have generated significant employment; imports of state-of-the-art technology equipment, key spare parts and energy resources have injected energy into industrial upgrading; and imports of quality consumer goods and services have expanded the supply of high-quality domestic demand ...

Since the Fourteenth Five-Year Plan, our share in the international market for imports has remained at around 10 per cent and for exports at more than 14 per cent. In the first four months of this year, private-sector exports and imports accounted for 57.4 per cent of our total imports and exports and continued to be the country ' s first largest foreign-trade destination. It is estimated that foreign trade agents directly and indirectly generate more than 180 million jobs, or about a quarter of our total number of employed persons. As the building of a trading power advances further, the country ' s super-large market advantage and super-supplied capacity gain, and the important role of foreign trade in steady growth, employment promotion and livelihood gains are further highlighted, increasing the sense of access and well-being of the population. Building a trading power is, above all, a practical initiative to promote the building of a community of human destiny. “China's development cannot be separated from the world, but its prosperity also requires China's “to make China's big market a world opportunity” ... Faced with the pretentious attempts of some countries to “disconnect” the chain, to build a “coup wall” and to block the “small circle” of exclusion, China insists on a high level of openness to the outside world, and on promoting an all-inclusive globalization of the economy, so that trade becomes a strong link between the destiny of peoples and their communities. By the end of 2025, my country had become a major trading partner in more than 160 countries and regions around the globe, and the widening of the path of diversification offered more opportunities for countries around the world. The Party's 19th report proposes “to advance the building of a trading power” and its 20th report further proposes “to accelerate the building of a trading power”, and the “Fifty Five” plan outlines deployment around “to accelerate the building of a trading power and promote the promotion of efficiency gains in foreign trade.” The “road map” and “worksheet” for the construction of a trading power are clearly on the way, and China's foreign trade is moving towards a higher level and higher quality. Accelerating innovation-driven competitiveness at the core of trade

Into Zhejiang Yiu's sixth generation market — the global digital trading centre — technology products such as drones, machine dogs, mechanical exoskeletal bones are overwhelming. Digital scenes such as AI Navigation, the Digital Bosses, and the Real-Time Translation Screen are visible, with businesses making live broadcasts, making videos, and doing business around the world through trillions of fibers. The leap from the first-generation road market to the sixth-generation digital market is a vivid picture of the development of trade innovation in China. In September 2023, the Secretary-General of Xi stated in his eighth collective learning session of the Central Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC), “to accelerate the building of strong trading nations, to upgrade trade in goods, innovative trade in services, to develop digital trade in the direction of digital greening, to further upgrade the international division of labour and to move to the higher end of global value chains”.

The “Fifty-five” programme framework is structured around a series of specific deployments, such as “Promoting Innovative Development of Trade in Trade in Goods”, “Big Development of Trade in Services”, “Innovative Development of Digital Trade, Green Trade”, “Supporting Development of New Business Patterns such as Transborder Electricians”. At present, from home to factory and from life to production, Chinese robots are fully integrated into the world ' s user life and industrial upgrading. On 3 March 2025, at the World Conference on Mobile Communications 2025, held in Barcelona, Spain, a demonstration robot was visited at the Glory Exhibition. In the first quarter, Chinese robots went out to the sea to accelerate. According to the General Customs Administration, the total export value of individual listed robots in the country amounts to $11.32 billion and products are sold to 148 countries and territories. From the “new three” of new energy vehicles, lithium batteries and photovoltaic products to the rapid growth of artificial intelligence, robotics and innovative medicines as “new three”, the structural transformation of our trade advantage is highlighted. According to the British Financial Times, the share of technology, digital systems and ancillary services in China ' s foreign trade is gradually increasing compared to the former exports of simple goods. As the global industrial division of labour accelerates, digital technology is widely used and the international system of economic and trade rules is deeply re-engineered, trade in services and digital trade has shown strong growth momentum, and has driven trade in goods from a single “product export” to a “product + service + experience” of a combined value export, thereby enhancing trade value added and international competitiveness. In view of the international market, China's electric power companies are connected to the world, China's food fragrances are on the world, Chinese films, short plays, Internet circles are pollinating overseas, and the “China tour” “China buys” continues to heat up...

On 21 August 2025, in Cologne, Germany, visitors tried to play the game " Infinite Warming " at the Köln game display. At present, our trade in services continues to grow in scale, digital trade has flourished and new trade patterns have emerged. For the first time in the 14th and 5th periods, our trade in services stood at a $1 trillion mark. AI-driven smart passenger service, virtual anchoring, live cross-border broadcasting, industrial Internet solutions, etc., provide a full chain of enabling trade. The industry is strong and the trade is strong. Core trade competitiveness can be enhanced only if there is a sustained upgrading of industrial chains and supply chain modernization. At the moment, traditional industries have accelerated their transformation, and new and future industries have flourished, driving China's manufacturing, Chinese services, Chinese technological brand value to continue to rise; the Central European Bandle, which began in the middle-west, has continued to grow, Chinese ports are growing steadily, and the level of interconnectivity between land and sea outreach and East and West is rising.

The “Fifty-five” programme provides for such deployments as “building a modern industrial system” “to accelerate high-level technological self-reliance” “to further the construction of a digital China” “to promote high-quality and efficient development of services” “to build a modern infrastructure system” and provides a systematic guide for China's foreign trade from a “scale-led” to a “quality-oriented” approach. China is accelerating the development of new quality productivity through science, technology and innovation, and is continuing to promote high-quality industrial development. China is promoting the new quality, efficiency and motivation of the supply chain of the industrial chain. Deepening reforms and opening up new spaces for trade development

On 1 May, at 0000 hours, as the port gate gate at Shenzhen Bay port was slowly lifted, a truck full of 24 tons of fresh apples from South Africa was quickly cleared by Shenzhen Customs and distributed to the country ' s supermarket and fruit and vegetable wholesale markets. This was the first “fresh” of our imports into ordinary homes, following the full implementation of a zero-tariff tariff on the 53 African countries of origin since 1 May 2026. In the first four months of this year, China gradually released the dividends of the non-zero-tariff initiative, and bilateral trade for the first time exceeded 800 billion yuan during the same period. In the early morning hours of 1 May 2026, the national first-hand shipment following the full implementation of the zero-tariff initiative in 53 African transit countries entered the country via the Shenzhen Bay port port customs inspection route. From the organization of the first global exhibition on the topic of imports to the application of a provisional import tariff below the most-favoured-nation (MFN) rate for 935 commodities, to the full implementation of the zero-tariff initiative for African transit countries ... In recent years, our country has continued to expand its imports to better serve its “world factory” and “world market” role and to share with countries the opportunities of China's big market. Since the eighteenth anniversary of the Party, we have promoted a balanced foreign trade, joined forces to build a strong domestic market and a trading power, accelerated the building of a single national market, promoted the development of integrated internal and external trade and continuously increased global resource allocation capacity. The Secretary-General of Xi emphasized: “We need to continue to expand our high level of openness to the outside world and to pursue a mutually beneficial and win-win open strategy, based on our super-large market advantage, to attract global resource elements in a domestic and international cycle, to enhance the impact of two domestic and international markets and two resource linkages, to steadily advance the liberalization of the rules, regulations, regulations, standards and so forth, to improve the quality and level of trade and investment cooperation and to expand the development space of modern Chinese style.”

On 9 April, the General Programme for China (Inner Mongolia) Free Trade Pilot Zone, published by the State Council, was published and extended to 23 China Free Trade Test Zones. From the “inland hinterland” to the “open frontier”, the establishment of the Inner Mongolia Free Trade Pilot Zone (NTPZ) with a “system key” to facilitate a more efficient flow of logistics, information flows, financial flows and the opening of the country's doors to the north. The steady expansion of system-based openness to high-standard international economic and trade rules is an important focus for building trade power. On 1 March this year, the newly amended Law of the People ' s Republic of China on Foreign Trade came into force. The revision made it clear that foreign trade should “advance trade power-building” and provide for a proactive approach to international high-standard economic and trade rules and active participation in international economic and trade rule-making. Promotion of the entry into force of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) and active promotion of accession to the Digital Economic Partnership Agreement (DEPA), the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement for Comprehensive and Progressive Progress (CPTPP); implementation of China-ASEAN Free Trade Zone 3.0 on the ground; island-wide closure of Hainan Free Trade Port; and the organization of international economic and trade fairs, fairs, trade fairs, etc.

On 18 December 2025, a ship carrying petrochemical material arrived at Yopo port. This is the “zero-tariff” petrochemical supplement (unmanned aerial photographs) to the first customs clearances at the Yangpo port bank following the official launch of Hainan Free Trade Port. A series of practical initiatives have been taken to promote high-standard international economic and trade rules, to promote reforms internally and with openness, to continuously optimize the business environment and to stimulate dynamism within foreign trade operators; and to promote cooperation externally in order to increase the impact of our foreign trade in the context of wider, broader and deeper international cooperation. There's no turning back. The “Friends Circle” that China has been working with countries around the world has grown stronger: In 2025, there were 249 countries and territories with which our country had trade, and the share of our exports and imports in the “across the road” countries increased to 51.9 per cent. In the first four months of this year, our exports and imports to ASEAN, the EU, Latin America and Africa increased by 15.7 per cent, 13.2 per cent, 15.3 per cent, 19.4 per cent and to the Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom by 34.3 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively. Openness leads to progress, and cooperation is a win-win. Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing, Dalian, Xiamen, etc. took the lead in developing model zones for innovative development of national trade in services; Guizhou has vigorously developed new business practices such as transborder electric powerers and bonded processing, and has implemented multiplication action plans for foreign trade. Local departments are being deployed in line with the “Fifty-five” plan, and a number of new initiatives are being implemented, based on their own resource endowments and geographical advantages, to further promote a high level of openness with a variety of characteristics. Looking ahead, under the scientific guidance of Xi Jinping’s economic thinking, China’s foreign trade has risen to a high level of openness and activating the engine of innovation. It will certainly take the wave of international economic and trade oceans and seas to build the capacity for high-quality economic development in China and to breathe greater confidence into world economic recovery and development.