How can the growth rate of foreign trade imports and exports in the central and western regions lead the way
In 2025, the global trade pattern will undergo a deep adjustment, and factors such as unilateral trade restrictions and geopolitical games will continue to disrupt the international market. China's foreign trade will demonstrate strong resilience and vitality in the face of challenges. Among them, the performance of central and western provinces is particularly outstanding, with nine out of the top 10 provinces in terms of foreign trade import and export growth rate in China falling in the central and western regions. Xinjiang, Shaanxi, Hubei, Gansu, Yunnan and other provinces have significantly led the country in terms of growth rate, and the central and western regions have become new highlands for inland opening up.
Continuous optimization of foreign trade structure
The innovative development of trade promotes the continuous optimization of the trade structure in the central and western regions, and the "green content" and "new content" are gradually increasing.
In 2025, the export value of China's "new three types" (electric vehicles, photovoltaic products, and lithium-ion batteries) will increase by 27.1% year-on-year. Lin Chao, Senior Economist at the Ministry of Information Technology and Industrial Development of the National Information Center, stated that the focus on characteristic tracks in the central and western regions has become the main driving force for the strong growth of "new three types" exports. Based on lithium salt resources in Sichuan, Yunnan, Qinghai and other regions, northwest scenery and southwest hydropower, as well as new energy vehicle industry foundations in Anhui, Shaanxi, Chongqing and other areas, the central and western regions are targeting key weaknesses and cutting-edge directions in key materials, specific technology applications, and green manufacturing in the upstream of the industrial chain, achieving technological innovation breakthroughs. Data shows that Gansu, Henan, Yunnan, Anhui, Chongqing, Xinjiang, Hubei and other regions rank among the top in terms of export growth rate. In addition to directly exporting finished products, the "New Three Types" enterprises actively adopt various methods such as technology authorization, brand cooperation, and commissioned production to provide high-quality green products to the world.
Diversification of trading partners is also a key indicator of the optimization of foreign trade structure in the central and western regions. The data shows that in 2025, the total import and export volume of Shaanxi, Henan and Xinjiang to the countries jointly building the "the Belt and Road" will increase by 10.5%, 14.3% and 14.7% year on year respectively, and that of Qinghai will reach 33.7%; ASEAN has been China's largest export market for three consecutive years, with Xinjiang's import and export growth rate to ASEAN reaching 98.3%. Cheng Wanjing, a researcher of the Strategic Research Institute of China International Engineering Consulting Co., Ltd., analyzed that the central and western regions should deepen the joint construction of the "the Belt and Road" countries and emerging markets such as ASEAN, Latin America and Africa, and accelerate their integration into the global emerging trade network.
At the same time, the vitality of business entities in the central and western regions continues to be released, and small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as specialized and innovative "little giant" enterprises, have become new forces in the development of foreign trade. The relevant person in charge of the Export Import Bank of China introduced that each branch provides precise financial services to enterprises through "one-on-one" financial advisors, supply chain financing, and loan transfer cooperation. For example, the Shaanxi Provincial Branch has supported thousands of small and micro enterprises over the past five years, promoted the incremental expansion of inclusive financial services, and allowed more business entities to participate in foreign trade development, forming a good pattern of "leading by leaders and small and micro following up". The Sichuan Provincial Branch has established a "one enterprise, one policy" service mechanism for leading enterprises to assist them in optimizing their global industrial layout; Provide "financing+integrated intelligence" services for innovative enterprises to help them better seize market opportunities; Provide comprehensive financial support for the construction and operation of the China Europe freight train (Chengdu Chongqing) hub, enabling Sichuan enterprises and products to enter the international market.
Multidimensional empowerment drives growth
It is not by chance that the foreign trade of the central and western regions has been able to break through the global trade changes against the trend. Cheng Wanjing stated that this is the result of the combination of three major factors: upgrading resource endowment, reshaping trade patterns, and empowering national strategies. It is also a reflection of the hard work of central and western provinces in honing their internal strength.
Relying on resource and location advantages to promote the transformation and upgrading of industrial structure is the inherent foundation for the growth of foreign trade in the central and western regions. The central and western regions have abundant resources such as energy and land. For example, the total installed capacity of electricity in the central and western regions accounts for over 60% of the country's total, providing a solid energy guarantee for the agglomeration of green manufacturing and high-end manufacturing industries. This has attracted a group of leading green manufacturing enterprises such as Longi and BYD to settle in. Meanwhile, central and western provinces continue to increase investment in the manufacturing industry. For example, Anhui's automobile manufacturing industry investment will increase by 26.6% year-on-year in 2025. Continuous industrial investment will gradually be transformed into real productivity, and the construction of an internationally competitive automobile industry innovation ecosystem will be accelerated, promoting the industrial structure to move towards high-end and green development, laying a solid industrial foundation for the high-quality development of foreign trade.
The profound changes in the international trade pattern have become an external opportunity to promote the growth of foreign trade in the central and western regions. The global industrial and supply chain layout is accelerating adjustment, and China's exports to emerging markets are maintaining strong growth. Lv Daliang, spokesman of the General Administration of Customs and director of the Department of Statistics and Analysis, said that in 2025, China's import and export to countries jointly building the "the Belt and Road" will be 23.6 trillion yuan, an increase of 6.3%; The total import and export volume of ASEAN, Latin America, and Africa increased by 8%, 6.5%, and 18.4% respectively year-on-year. The central and western regions, with their geographical proximity to Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and other regions, actively expand their open space to the west and south, transforming traditional inland locations into cutting-edge gateways for emerging markets.
The multiple supports of national strategic empowerment, cross-border logistics, and open platform construction have injected strong impetus into the growth of foreign trade in the central and western regions. Cheng Wanjing stated that major national and regional strategies such as the development of the western region, the rise of the central region, and the construction of the Chengdu Chongqing dual city economic circle continue to deepen, and supporting policies are constantly improved. The newly revised "Catalogue of Industries Encouraging Foreign Investment" guides foreign investment to tilt towards the central and western regions, and accelerates the cooperation and orderly transfer of industries between eastern and western parks. At the same time, the cross-border logistics channel network continues to weave, and international logistics systems such as the China Europe freight train and the Western Land Sea New Corridor have been established for land sea intermodal transportation, fundamentally improving the trade location conditions in the central and western regions. The functions of open platforms such as pilot free trade zones and comprehensive bonded zones continue to be strengthened, becoming a highland for institutional innovation and foreign trade industry agglomeration. By 2025, the total import and export volume of Henan and Chongqing Comprehensive Bonded Zones will account for 55.4% and 61.5% of the province's (city's) total, respectively, while the import and export growth rate of Yunnan Pilot Free Trade Zone will exceed 20%. The flourishing development of new business platforms such as the Cross border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone has helped numerous small and medium-sized enterprises directly reach the global market, providing important support for the improvement and expansion of foreign trade.
Seize new opportunities for development
In 2026, both opportunities and risks will coexist in China's foreign trade, "analyzed Su Jian, a professor at the School of Economics and director of the National Economic Research Center at Peking University. On the one hand, international relations will become more complex, and foreign trade policies of various countries will be increasingly influenced by geopolitics, leading to increased external uncertainty; On the other hand, with the restoration of China EU trade relations and the promotion of high-quality joint construction of the "the Belt and Road", the resilience of the global industrial chain has increased and China's high-level opening up has further expanded.
At present, green industry clusters represented by the "new three types" have been formed in the central and western regions, with significant economies of scale and industrial chain advantages. International logistics networks such as the China Europe freight train and the Western Land Sea New Corridor continue to improve, and the dividends of regional economic and trade agreements such as RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) are further evident. The global green and low-carbon transformation is steadily advancing, and these favorable factors will support the growth of foreign trade imports and exports in the central and western regions.
The development of foreign trade in the central and western regions also faces significant challenges that cannot be ignored. Cheng Wanjing analyzed that at the international level, factors such as weak global economic recovery and sluggish international market demand have an impact on the growth space of foreign trade; At the domestic level, several provinces in the central and western regions are focusing on the "new three types" of industries. In the future, they will avoid homogeneous competition in overseas markets and prevent situations such as "increasing income without increasing profits". Meanwhile, the central and western regions have shortcomings in areas such as digital trade and service trade, and there is still room for further optimization of the trade structure.
How can the central and western regions seize new opportunities for foreign trade development in the face of challenges? Lin Chao suggested that we should make full use of our strengths and weaknesses, and make precise efforts to promote high-quality development of foreign trade. Give full play to comparative advantages, implement differentiated development strategies, fully utilize the advantages of land, energy, labor and other resources in the central and western regions, actively undertake and cultivate industrial chain links with comparative advantages, and actively expand into emerging markets with strong demand in the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, Southeast Asia and other regions.
At the same time, optimize the business environment and improve the quality and efficiency of "going global" services. Build an industrial service platform to provide services such as technology research and development, product testing and certification, supply chain finance, etc., to solve practical pain points for enterprises going global; Enhance the functions of logistics hubs, rely on strategic channels such as the China Europe freight train and the Western Land Sea New Corridor, and optimize services such as customs clearance and transit for the "new three types"; Strengthen the integration of international rules, help enterprises understand the technical standards and certification requirements of major countries, and establish risk warning and response mechanisms.