Strengthened Accessibility To Drive Foreign Trade Development

The recent forecast conducted by the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization shows that there could be a downturn in the global economy and trade this year.

Frail international market demand is likely to pose a challenge to China’s foreign trade. To ensure a frequent flow of imports and exports as a vital support of economic growth, the value of the constant increase in both the volume and quality of imports-exports has been highlighted in this year’s Government Work Report along with the fundamental equilibrium in the balance of payments.

The utilized foreign venture, which increased gradually last year, played a vital role in witnessing the beyond-expectations volume of trade in goods. China’s official data indicated that China-United States trade volume added up to $759.31 billion (up 0.58 percent) in 2022, combining $581.61 billion of exports to the United States (up 1.1 percent) and $177.70 billion of imports from the US(down 1.1 percent).

Both the total value of China-US trade and China’s exports to the US touched high records. 

As per the US data, US trade with China was valued at $690.59 billion (up 5.2 percent), with $153.84 billion of US exports to China (up 1.6 percent) and $536.75 billion of US imports from China (up 6.3 percent). All these data broke records and indicated that the Sino-US economic and trade relations are extremely complementary and tough.

These figures are also a clear confirmation of the tremendous potential and complementarity of the bilateral economic and trade relations between China and the US and indicate that bilateral economic and trade cooperation's commonly beneficial and win-win nature should be delivered with full importance.

The quality and formation of China’s trade with major economies are vital for its development. But simultaneously proceeding to upgrade the level of its trade collaboration with major economies, including the US, the European Union, Japan, and the Republic of Korea, China will initiate great endeavors to investigate emerging markets and boost its trade with Latin American nations and also the nations engaged in the Belt and Road initiative. Additionally, China is likely to keep developing new global trade instruments and update business forms and patterns to revive the quality and efficiency of its international trade to keep up strong momentum for sustained improvement.

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China’s international trade has demonstrated exceptional resilience, which empowers it to update and incorporate rapidly amid external factors and internal adjustments while keeping up with stability and sustainability. The reasons behind this resilience are complicated - China’s long-term economic perspective, which is the foundation on which foreign trade is fabricated, remains positive, and its foreign trade advantages from the nation’s solid industrial foundation, the benefits of its massive market, its diversified trade associates, exploring new trade forms, extreme trade subjects, and effective policy support.

For example, how industry upholds the nation’s foreign trade development: China has 41 industrial divisions, 207 industrial groups, and 666 industrial classes, making it the only nation present in all industrial sectors mentioned in the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities of the United Nations. In 2022, the total value added of the industrial sector in China surpassed 40 trillion yuan ($5.8 trillion). Remarkably, the value added of the manufacturing industry made up 27.7 percent of GDP, and the manufacturing scale in China has positioned first globally for 13 consecutive years. The sound and rapid growth of the manufacturing industry will aid China’s transformation from the “world’s factory” to “the world’s market” and push momentum into international trade.

Looking forward, China will initiate intricate initiatives to encourage increased accessibility and bring constant growth of foreign trade. The central government will look to deliver a beneficial environment for foreign trade by propelling endeavors to join high-standard economic and trade agreements such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement, as well as by developing the reforms of domestic trade progression and assistance in alignment with suitable rules, regulations, management, and standards. It will endeavor to diversify its foreign trade markets by extending the high-standard free trade agreement network open to the whole world, proactively creating global collaborations and producing equivalent and commonly beneficial cooperation with nations around the globe.

The central government will likely keep sticking to the basic State policy of opening up and seeking an open strategy of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation to make a more prominent commitment to the development of international trade.