In the first half of the year, the momentum of global economic growth was weak, the risk of geopolitical conflicts continued to ferment, and the growth rate of international trade slowed down. In the face of the complicated external environment, China has actively adapted to the changes in the situation, vigorously explored diversified markets, effectively hedged the pressure brought about by the global economic downturn, achieved steady growth in foreign trade orders, and further improved the resilience and risk resistance of foreign trade development.
The growth rate of global trade in goods will drop from 4.7% in 2025 to 1.5% and 2.5% in 2026. Regionally, the markets of the southern countries in the world have considerable growth potential, and the growth rate of China’s trade with emerging markets remains high. In the first half of the year, China’s import and export to the countries that jointly built the “Belt and Road” was 12.97 trillion yuan, up 14.8% year-on-year, accounting for 50.9% of China’s total foreign trade; Imports and exports to emerging markets such as Latin America and Africa increased by 16.2% and 19.6% respectively. China and ASEAN have been each other’s largest trading partners for many years. In the first half of the year, the import and export to ASEAN increased by 18.2% year-on-year, and the scale of bilateral trade continued to expand.
China’s diversified market layout has achieved outstanding results, the root of which lies in actively seizing the opportunity of intelligent and green transformation of global industries and adapting to the diversified needs of the global market with high-quality supply. The Global Trade Outlook and Statistics released by the WTO in March pointed out that artificial intelligence-related hardware products such as semiconductors, processors, servers and communication equipment, although accounting for only about one-sixth of the total global trade, contributed 42% of the global trade in goods in 2025 and became the core force driving the growth of global trade.
China has fully released its industrial advantages, accelerated the iteration of intelligent innovative products, and injected new kinetic energy into foreign trade growth. In the first half of the year, the import and export of computing hardware such as electronic components and computer parts increased by 56.6% year-on-year. At the same time, with the continuous deepening of global green and low-carbon transformation and the continuous release of green consumption demand, China’s new energy vehicles, clean energy equipment and other products have strongly supported the export of green and low-carbon products to achieve rapid growth with sufficient production capacity, advanced technology and excellent quality.
Source: Sina Finance
Image source: photo network genuine authorization