China's foreign trade shoots three arrows at once, including an increase in "new" volume
Beijing, July 16th (Xinhua) -- The China Economic Half Year Report has been released. In the midst of the "high winds and rapid waves" in the external environment, China's foreign trade has defied the trend and delivered impressive results. In the first half of the year, the total import and export volume of goods was 25.47 trillion yuan, exceeding 25 trillion yuan for the first time in history, a year-on-year increase of 16.9%.
Against the backdrop of the swinging of the tariff baton across the ocean and the smoke of gunpowder in the Middle East, China's foreign trade is not only running steadily, but also has a new engine.
A prominent change is the increase in the amount of "new" exports.
In the first half of the year, China's goods trade exports amounted to 14.73 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.4%. Among them, mechanical and electrical products are the absolute mainstay, with exports reaching 9.36 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.1%, accounting for 63.5% of the total export value.
It is worth mentioning that the export of high-tech products reached 3.26 trillion yuan, an increase of 39%, and the export of domestic brands increased by 25.4%, an increase of 2.4 percentage points in proportion.
These changes cannot be separated from a keyword - artificial intelligence (AI).
In the current intense global AI computing competition, China's industrial chain happens to be at the important supply side of this track, and the explosion of related industries has become one of the core driving forces for foreign trade growth.
In the first half of the year, China's exports of electronic components, computer parts and other products achieved double-digit growth, driving a total export growth of 6.9 percentage points. The export of intelligent bionic robots deeply integrated with AI technology exceeded 10000 units, covering more than 90 countries and regions around the world.
In addition, intelligent products such as AI glasses, AI translators, and mechanical exoskeletons are rapidly iterating, and various innovative products continue to emerge, all of which deeply embed China's intelligent manufacturing into the global industrial transformation.
In addition to an increase in the amount of "new" products, the export of green products represented by electric vehicles and lithium batteries has also maintained a strong momentum, and the amount of "green" products in exports continues to rise.
In the first half of the year, exports of green energy related products such as lithium batteries and wind turbines increased by 37.6% and 35.6% respectively; Green travel products such as electric vehicles, railway electric locomotives, electric motorcycles, and bicycles increased by 68.7%, 45.1%, and 31.5%, respectively.
The global green and low-carbon transformation is deepening, and the construction of new energy and the increasing demand for consumption are highly compatible with China's green products, which has become an important support for export growth. The rise in crude oil and natural gas prices caused by geopolitical conflicts has further amplified this demand.
The more turbulent the world, the higher the demand for certainty and security. When multiple countries are facing soaring oil prices, energy shortages, and global customers are anxious about supply chain security, China's stable supply capacity of green products has become a key force in filling the global supply and demand gap.
If technological innovation and green transformation are the "hard power" at the product level, then market diversification provides spatial "room for maneuver".
In the first half of the year, the market landscape of China's foreign trade has blossomed in many places. China's import and export to countries jointly building the "the Belt and Road" reached 12.97 trillion yuan, up 14.8% year on year, accounting for 50.9% of the total foreign trade value; Exports to Latin America and Africa increased by 16.2% and 19.6% respectively, while exports to the European Union increased by 10.2%.
In addition, the international "circle of friends" of Chinese enterprises is becoming increasingly wide. Compared with the same period last year, 267000 foreign trade enterprises expanded their business to new countries and regions in the first half of 2026, with a total import and export value growth of 22.6%, accounting for nearly 70% of the total foreign trade value.
It is this diversified "circle of friends" that has given China's foreign trade strong resilience. Chinese companies have also voted with their feet, expanding their business to every corner of the world and consolidating the most solid foundation of foreign trade.
Technological innovation, green transformation, and market diversification are the three arrows of China's foreign trade, aiming at higher positions in the global industrial and value chains, and opening up a new pattern of high-quality development.