Accelerate the cultivation and growth of new forms and models of trade

Currently, the global economic and trade landscape is undergoing profound changes and adjustments. Digital technology is reshaping trade processes, transaction models, and industrial ecosystems, accelerating the development of new forms and models of trade, and becoming a key engine driving trade growth. The outline of the 15th Five Year Plan proposes to "innovate and develop digital trade, green trade, and orderly expand the opening up of the digital field" and "support the development of new formats and models such as cross-border e-commerce". Profoundly grasping the characteristics and development trends of new forms and models of trade, continuously improving the policy system to support its development and growth, is of great significance for promoting high-quality trade development and accelerating the construction of a strong trading nation.

In recent years, digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and the Internet of Things have developed rapidly, reconstructing the trade chain and changing the way trade is supplied. The improvement of data generation, storage, transmission, analysis and other capabilities promotes a profound change in the combination of factors, drives the upgrading of labor quality, and promotes the improvement of trade quality and efficiency. The deep integration of the real economy and the digital economy promotes the transformation and upgrading of industries towards technology intensive and capital intensive industries. While reshaping traditional trade advantages, it lays a solid foundation for the development of new forms and models of trade. In the field of physical trade, mature models such as cross-border e-commerce, market procurement trade, and comprehensive foreign trade services have been formed to effectively match small batch, multi batch, and fast turnover export needs, and to open up channels for industrial belts to go global. In the field of service trade, new formats and models such as high-end design, research and development, supply chain, inspection and testing, accreditation and certification, intellectual property, geographic information, language services, etc. are flourishing, promoting the upgrading of service trade towards knowledge intensive and high value-added direction. In the field of digital trade, new trade formats with digital products, digital services, digital technologies, and cross-border data flow as key contents are rapidly emerging.

The new forms and models of trade exhibit four typical characteristics. One is digital driven. Digital technology runs through the entire chain of transactions, negotiations, customs clearance, logistics, settlement, and after-sales, significantly reducing trade costs and improving trade efficiency. The second is inclusive development. The entry threshold has been significantly reduced, and private enterprises, mainly small and medium-sized enterprises, have become the main force in foreign trade development. The third is integrated development. Deep linkage between trade and industry, promoting the coordinated construction of industrial clusters, logistics hubs, platform channels, etc. Fourthly, institutional empowerment. Inclusive and prudent supervision, pilot and pilot projects, differentiated support policies, etc., provide sufficient space for trade innovation and development.

China attaches great importance to the development of new forms and models of trade, continuously improves the supporting policy system, and promotes the development of new forms and models to present a good trend of both quantity and quality.

The development momentum of cross-border e-commerce is rapid. In 2025, the import and export scale of cross-border e-commerce in China will reach 2.84 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.8%, accounting for 6.2% of the total import and export value of goods trade during the same period, forming a two-way circulation pattern of "global buying and global selling". The comprehensive pilot zone for cross-border e-commerce has achieved a comprehensive layout, with the number of "Silk Road e-commerce" partner countries increasing to 36, and the export structure jumping towards high added value and intelligence.

Global layout of overseas warehouse infrastructure. Chinese enterprises have built over 2500 overseas warehouses with a total area of over 30 million square meters, forming an intelligent logistics chain of "domestic consolidation trunk line operation overseas warehousing local distribution". The overseas warehouse integrates intelligent sorting, returns and exchanges, after-sales maintenance and other functions, significantly reducing delivery time and overall cross-border logistics costs.

Enhance and expand the quality of digital service trade. Domestic general models and other products are accelerating their scale expansion overseas, overseas computing power layout is accelerating, cultural "new three types" are showing strong momentum in going global, and cross-border intellectual property, consulting, marketing, and financial services are developing rapidly. In 2025, China's import and export of knowledge intensive services will reach 3087.95 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.6%. Among them, the import and export of telecommunications, computers, and information services reached 1103.81 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.4%, making it one of the fastest-growing sub sectors.

The trade innovation development ecosystem continues to optimize. The pilot program for national market procurement and trade has been expanded to 39, and the export channels for light industry, textiles, and small commodities continue to expand. Accumulated landing of over 280 bonded maintenance projects, covering high value-added industries such as high-end equipment, electronic information, and medical equipment. Offshore trade and comprehensive foreign trade service enterprises are rapidly developing and growing, with various new business forms and models intersecting and empowering each other, effectively promoting trade and investment integration, domestic and foreign trade integration, and trade industry linkage.

However, it should also be noted that the development of new forms and models of trade still faces many practical challenges. Currently, international geopolitical conflicts are frequent, trade protectionism is on the rise, tariff and non-tariff barriers are increasing, and the risks of corporate compliance and global market expansion are increasing; Traditional regulatory methods are difficult to adapt to the characteristics of new business formats and models, and cross departmental collaborative mechanisms are not yet sound; Many enterprises lack technological innovation capabilities, and their dependence on key technologies and core algorithms is relatively high. There is also a shortage of talent reserves that meet the needs of new business formats and models.

The period of the 15th Five Year Plan is a crucial period for consolidating the foundation and making comprehensive efforts to achieve socialist modernization. It is necessary to focus on addressing weaknesses, enhancing strengths and weaknesses, improving quality, and optimizing the ecosystem, accelerate the cultivation and growth of new forms and models of trade, and continuously expand the development space of foreign trade.

Firstly, shaping new advantages in trade competition. Strengthen the research and development of key core technologies in the field of trade, leverage the advantages of the new national system, and accelerate breakthroughs in cutting-edge digital trade technologies, advanced supply chain technologies, and other areas. Deepen the "digital commerce driven production", vigorously develop cross-border e-commerce to empower industrial belts, and guide various factor resources to cluster towards high value-added industries such as high-end manufacturing, digital services, green trade, and bonded maintenance. Strengthen the construction of foreign trade brands, support enterprises to carry out overseas trademark registration, strive for international quality system certification, and comprehensively improve the overall level of independent export brand construction. Intensify support for the construction of digital infrastructure and the cultivation of entities in the central and western regions, and promote the balanced development of new business models and formats across the entire region. Build a new business model and standard system for trade, improve technical specifications in cross-border e-commerce, overseas warehouses, digital service trade and other fields, and promote the "going global" of Chinese standards.

Secondly, improve relevant institutional rules. Proactively aligning with international high standard economic and trade rules, and conducting pilot projects in key areas such as digital market access, cross-border data flow, and intellectual property protection. Accelerate the development of a negative list for cross-border data flows, promote industry regulatory authorities to establish classification and grading standards for data in their respective fields and important data catalogs, and orderly promote the safe and free cross-border flow of data outside the negative list. We will improve the management system for the negative list of cross-border service trade, and promote the orderly expansion of the opening up of telecommunications, the Internet, education, culture, medical care and other fields. Actively participate in the formulation of international rules and standards in fields such as cross-border e-commerce, cross-border data flow, green trade, and intellectual property protection, and promote mutual recognition of Chinese and foreign standards. Deepen bilateral and multilateral economic and trade cooperation, actively eliminate hidden trade barriers, and promote the construction of a more open, inclusive, transparent, and non discriminatory international trade environment.

Thirdly, improve the innovation and development ecosystem. Promote further expansion of the Cross border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone, improve the "six systems" of information sharing, financial services, intelligent logistics, e-commerce integrity, statistical monitoring, risk prevention and control supervision and services, as well as the "two platforms" of cross-border e-commerce online comprehensive services and offline industrial parks, and promote the B2B direct export and overseas warehouse model of cross-border e-commerce enterprises. Expand the pilot of market procurement trade methods and simplify the customs clearance process for small-scale exports. Optimize the cross-border logistics system, build a smart overseas warehouse network, and establish a global collaborative scheduling platform. Expand the carriers of digital trade platforms, establish national digital trade demonstration zones, and cultivate a group of new business formats and models for cluster development. Establish international data centers based on free trade pilot zones, Hainan Free Trade Port, etc., and develop new formats such as data processing and new offshore international trade. Continuously organize digital trade related exhibitions such as data fairs and trade fairs, and enrich exhibition and trade channels. We will strengthen support for supporting factors, optimize credit loans, supply chain finance, exchange rate hedging, export credit insurance and other services, and increase the supply of digital operations and compliance personnel.

Fourth, continuously optimize supervision and services. Adhere to inclusive and prudent supervision, and establish regulatory rules, statistical systems, and industry standards that are suitable for new business models and formats. Regularly issuing compliance guidelines and conducting corporate compliance training for key areas such as cross-border e-commerce, cross-border data flow, bonded maintenance, and offshore trade. Establish a sound credit grading and classification supervision mechanism, and provide more convenience for trustworthy enterprises in customs clearance, tax refund, and other aspects. Establish a comprehensive overseas service system, optimize trade risk warning and diversified dispute resolution mechanisms, and effectively safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises.

Fifth, strengthen policy coordination and linkage. Establish a sound cross departmental and cross regional normalized collaborative linkage mechanism, coordinate and integrate various government service resources such as customs, taxation, foreign exchange, industry, finance, etc., unblock policy implementation bottlenecks and difficulties, and promote innovation and integration of policy systems. Encourage various regions to base themselves on industrial foundations, introduce differentiated and precise support policies, and cultivate new industry clusters with local characteristics. Continuously expanding the "single window" function of international trade, promoting the integration, digitization, and intelligent development of government services, providing one-stop services for declaration, customs clearance, tax refund, financing, and consulting, and fully stimulating the innovation vitality of new trade forms and models.