From 'New Three Types' to' New New Three Types', China's foreign trade continues to grow rapidly

What are the characteristics of the economic "half year report" for 2026 as the "15th Five Year Plan" begins? What signals are being transmitted? Starting today, People's Daily Online will launch a series of reports titled "Observations on the Beginning" to analyze the resilience, vitality, and potential of the Chinese economy from multiple dimensions.

On July 15th, a set of data released by the National Bureau of Statistics attracted attention——

In the first half of this year, China's import and export of goods reached 25.47 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.9%; Among them, exports amounted to 14.73 trillion yuan, an increase of 13.4%. From January to May, the total volume of service trade increased by 6% year-on-year, and the export of knowledge intensive services increased by 12.2%.

Against the backdrop of increasing global trade barriers and frequent geopolitical conflicts, this report card carries significant weight.

In addition to data, what excites the market even more is that the "new" in the structure - "new new three types" - are accelerating to take the stage and become high-frequency words in the foreign trade field in the first half of the year.

What are the 'New Three'? Robots, artificial intelligence, and innovative drugs.

These three words representing the future direction of industries are rising as new business cards for China's foreign trade.

In the first half of the year, China's industrial robot exports increased by 18.6% year-on-year; The export of surgical robots increased by 3.3 times year-on-year; The export of intelligent bionic robots exceeds 10000 units, covering more than 90 countries and regions worldwide. With the rapid development of artificial intelligence, in the first half of the year, China's exports of electronic components, computer parts and other products all grew in double digits, driving a total export growth of 6.9 percentage points. The export of innovative drugs has seen a surge, with the total amount of China's innovative drug license out in the first half of 2026 reaching about 110 billion US dollars, which is about 80% of last year's total, setting a new historical high.

Looking back at the early stages of reform and opening up, the "old three" of clothing, furniture, and household appliances relied on their labor cost advantages to open the door to the international market.

In the new century, the "new three types" of electric manned vehicles, lithium batteries, and solar cells have emerged as a new force. China relies on its complete industrial clusters and engineer dividends to seize the opportunity in the global green transformation.

Now, in the first year of the 15th Five Year Plan, the "new, new, and new" industries are accelerating their rise, and the added value of exported products is further increasing. The core competitiveness of China's foreign trade has quietly shifted from "factor driven" to "innovation driven".

From a "cost depression" to a "technological highland", every product iteration marks the upward climb of China's industrial level.

The perception of the market is the most sensitive——

In the field of robotics, Chinese companies are standing on the world stage at an unprecedented speed. At the beginning of 2026, Chinese companies occupied more than half of the booths in the humanoid robot exhibition area at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in the United States. Yushu Technology has become a "new favorite" in the global scientific research and education scene with its quadruped robots and bipedal humanoid robots.

In the field of artificial intelligence, OpenRouter, the world's largest AI model API aggregation platform, monitored data showing that from June 15th to 21st, the total number of global AI big model surveys reached 46.7 trillion yuan, with China's AI big model weekly survey reaching 18.81 trillion yuan, ranking first for eight consecutive weeks. In terms of hardware, innovative intelligent products such as AI glasses, AI translators, and mechanical exoskeletons are constantly emerging and entering overseas markets.

In the field of innovative drugs, in the first half of 2026, Chinese pharmaceutical companies will occupy 8 out of the top 10 global pharmaceutical transactions. Leading companies such as BeiGene and Hengrui Pharmaceuticals have frequently signed heavyweight authorization agreements with multinational pharmaceutical companies to promote their independently developed anti-cancer and targeted drugs to the global clinical pipeline.

These three aspects have pieced together a new map of China's foreign trade competitiveness.

Looking at the world, the pressure of economic growth has not decreased, trade protection is on the rise, and compliance costs and geopolitical risks faced by foreign trade enterprises are indeed increasing. However, pressure has never crushed China's foreign trade, but instead forced stronger resilience.

According to customs data, in the first half of the year, China's imports and exports to countries jointly building the "the Belt and Road" increased by 14.8%, while those to Latin America and Africa increased by 16.2% and 19.6% respectively. The development of diversified markets effectively mitigates market volatility risks. In the first half of the year, the import and export of private enterprises increased by 17%, accounting for 57% of the total foreign trade value, demonstrating a strong market sense and adaptability.

At the beginning of the 15th Five Year Plan, China's foreign trade has delivered an impressive performance.

Boosting gas not only in terms of data, but also in terms of structure——

The 'old three' have not disappeared, they are undergoing branding upgrades; The "new three types" have not reached their peak, and they are evolving towards the next generation of technology; The 'New New Three' has just broken ground and has shown vigorous vitality.

From the "old three styles" to the "new three styles", and now to the "new new three styles", the replacement of three generations of iconic products is climbing the level of China's industrial upgrading and measuring the bottom of China's economic resilience. They once again prove that as long as the gears of innovation are still rotating and the ladder of industrial upgrading is still extending upwards, the Chinese economy will never have a so-called "top".