“When the West is dim, the East shines; when there is no North, there is the South.” “I remain resilient through thousands of trials, regardless of the winds from any direction.” Wang Wentao, China's Minister of Commerce, stated in Beijing on the 6th that this is exactly the source of confidence for China’s foreign trade.
According to China News Service, on this day, the fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress held an economic-themed press conference. At the conference, Wang Wentao summarized China’s 2025 foreign trade in four words.
The first word is “stable.” China’s status as a major trading nation has become even more solid. In 2025, goods imports and exports crossed the 45 trillion yuan (RMB, the same below) threshold, a growth of 3.8%, achieving consecutive growth for nine years. Service imports and exports exceeded 8 trillion yuan, steadily ranking among the top in the world.
The second word is “progress.” China has made significant progress in building a strong trade nation, with an optimized trade structure and an outstanding “new content,” “green content,” and “smart content.” In 2025, the share of exports for electromechanical products exceeded 60% for the first time.
The third word is “vital.” New business models and new forms in China’s foreign trade have shown strong vitality. In 2025, cross-border e-commerce imports and exports reached 2.75 trillion yuan. Online literature, games, and dramas became popular overseas. The number of enterprises with import and export performance exceeded 780,000, and private enterprises accounted for nearly 60%.
The fourth word is “resilient.” Diversified development has enhanced China’s foreign trade resilience. China is a major trading partner for more than 160 countries and regions, and trade with Belt and Road Initiative countries accounts for over half, reaching 51.9%.
Wang Wentao noted that in the first two months of this year, China’s foreign trade on the whole continued last year’s characteristics and trends, but it’s important to note that the external environment for foreign trade development remains complex and severe, and there remains considerable pressure to stabilize foreign trade. Recently, intensified geopolitical conflicts, the international economic and trade order, and the global production and supply chains have all been impacted, leading to more uncertainty and instability.
He stated that this year, efforts will focus on the “three pillars” of building a strong trade nation: goods trade, services trade, and digital trade. There will be strengthened coordination to promote stability and quality, balance emerging and traditional sectors, imports and exports, and producer and consumer services trade, making every effort to stabilize the fundamentals of foreign trade.