On April 15, SASAC held a special meeting on central enterprises' low altitude economy development, studying work ideas and measures. It emphasized strategic significance, predicted China's low altitude economy market size to reach 1.5 trillion yuan by 2025 and 3.5 trillion yuan by 2035, and required central enterprises to strengthen tech R&D, infrastructure construction, etc.

The National Data Administration released a draft plan on industry high-quality dataset construction for public comment. It defines such datasets, sets 2028 targets, focuses on AI pre-training/reinforcement learning and multimodal/world model datasets, and proposes business model innovations.

On April 15, 2026, the US Department of Commerce announced the plaintiff withdrew the lawsuit, terminating anti-dumping/anti-subsidy investigations against China’s lithium hexafluorophosphate before filing—China’s first such pre-filing victory in 20 years. Coordinated efforts secured this success, protecting industry interests.

The 139th Canton Fair opened in Guangzhou on April 15, with record scale (1.55m sqm, 32k+ exhibitors). It adds new zones for drones/smart products, showcasing innovations like drone delivery and intelligent robots. Overseas buyers experienced these techs, driving potential orders, as a foreign trade barometer.

China opposes the UK's exclusion of Mingyang Intelligent's wind turbines from offshore wind projects on "national security" grounds, noting it contradicts the UK's open market philosophy and harms bilateral cooperation. UK PM Starmer earlier stated willingness to strengthen Sino-UK cooperation in trade, environment etc. China hopes the UK provides a fair business environment for Chinese enterprises.

The 15th Five-Year Plan proposes trade and investment integration to deepen China's opening-up. It responds to global economic changes, supports dual circulation, boosts high-quality development, and requires institutional coordination, industrial chain integration, and open platform upgrades.

China issued a new regulation to counter foreign improper extraterritorial jurisdiction, aiming to safeguard sovereignty, security and development interests. It has 20 articles on scope, identification/blocking systems, service guarantees. Experts emphasize its legality and role in opposing hegemony, enhancing China's foreign-related rule of law.

Under the dual carbon target, China's green trade accelerates development as a key part of foreign trade upgrading. It covers significance (harmonious coexistence, major country responsibility, competitive advantage), key areas (trade partners, supply chain, rules) and practical paths (technology, industry, policy, global cooperation), supporting high-quality development and global governance.

The State Council issued the "Overall Plan for China (Inner Mongolia) Pilot Free Trade Zone", a major decision of the Party Central Committee and the State Council. It proposes 19 reform and innovation measures, aims to build a high-level free trade park, and emphasizes Party leadership, security, green development, with implementation requirements for Inner Mongolia and relevant departments.

The US House China Select Committee set up a whistleblower email urging American scholars to report China-related research cooperation. Chinese FM spokesperson Mao Ning criticized this as US suppression, noting it undermines normal tech exchanges and harms US innovation.

On the 8th, the World Bank released its East Asia and Pacific Economic Semi Annual Report: developing EAP growth is higher than global average but slows to 4.2% in 2026 then rebounds to 4.4% in 2027. External factors include Middle East conflict (energy price hikes), tariffs (policy uncertainty), and AI boom (regional export highlight). South Korea's semiconductor experience is cited.

On April 8th, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning stated at a regular press conference that China-US economic and trade relations are mutually beneficial and win-win, calling on both sides to implement the important consensus of the two heads of state to provide more stability for their cooperation.

Recently, Zengcheng Customs and Guangzhou Railway Logistics Center launched the "two inspections in one" mechanism for China Europe freight trains in the Greater Bay Area, achieving one-time unpacking for customs and railway checks. This shortens operation time, cuts logistics costs, and boosts high-quality foreign trade development.

The Regulation aims to prevent industrial chain and supply chain security risks, enhance their resilience, and maintain economic, social stability and national security. It has 18 articles covering principles, security system measures, countermeasures and extraterritorial application.

今年前两月中国新设外资企业8631家（同比增14%），外资持续增投深耕产业链；中国扩大开放、扩内需促创新，多国企业看好并增投，中国为世界经济注入稳定，成为外资全球竞争力核心高地。

In March, China's manufacturing PMI (50.4%), non-manufacturing index (50.1%) and composite PMI (50.5%) stayed in expansion range. The improvement reflects economic resilience, driven by high-quality development, new quality productive forces and consumption potential release, showing a sound recovery trend.

Recently, the Ministry of Commerce and five other departments issued the "Guiding Opinions on Better Serving the Real Economy and Promoting High-quality Development of E-commerce", which includes 16 measures in 5 aspects to empower the real economy, promote innovation, opening up, and build a sound e-commerce ecology.

UNCTAD released an April 1 report stating the Strait of Hormuz blockade exacerbates global economic pressure—halted transport, impacted oil/gas supply, slower 2025-2026 trade/economic growth, developing countries hardest hit, risk of chain crises.

Ministry of Commerce spokesperson He Yadong responded to Meta's Manus acquisition, China-US economic and trade relations, China-ASEAN FTA 3.0 upgrade, and the 139th Canton Fair (with over 170,000 pre-registered overseas buyers) at an April 2 press conference.

On March 31, 2026, CCPIT spokesperson Wang Guannan released the 2025 Global Economic and Trade Friction Index and January 2026 data. The 2025 index remained high, driven by the US; key frictional countries included the US, India, EU; key industries: electronics, mechanical equipment; main measures: other restrictive, technical trade, tariff measures.