On March 25th, the WTO Investment Facilitation Agreement Ministerial Meeting was held in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao attended and spoke, emphasizing multilateralism, adaptive multilateral investment rules, and supporting the agreement's integration into the multilateral framework. China will assist in capacity building and promote its early entry into force. The meeting is an important event of the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference with 128 members.

On March 26th, the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference held a special discussion on WTO reform. Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao attended and delivered a speech, emphasizing upholding the multilateral trading system, opposing unilateralism and protectionism, and that reform should center on development. China advocates dialogue over confrontation and submitted a reform position paper.

The China UK Investor Forum was held in London on March 24, with over 100 representatives from China and UK discussing strengthening bilateral economic, trade and investment cooperation, focusing on areas like green finance and financial technology.

Ethiopian flower exporters welcome China's zero tariff measures. The 10th International Flora and Horticultural Trade Fair will be held in Addis Ababa. Horticultural products are Ethiopia's second largest agricultural foreign exchange source. China will implement zero tariff on 53 African countries with diplomatic ties from May 1, 2026.

Shenyang Customs found 34 cannabis seeds hidden in assembled building blocks of a toy package during inbound mail inspection; the seeds were professionally identified and the mail has been destroyed.

Laizhou Customs (subsidiary of Qingdao Customs) seized undeclared cigarettes from an international shipping vessel's crew member. Tobacco entry has duty-free limits; crew luggage follows passenger rules. The cigarettes are detained for further disposal.

Recently, Dongjiakou Port Customs under Qingdao Customs found 1180 undeclared cigarettes in a crew member's luggage on an inbound ship. Tobacco has entry restrictions; crew members' luggage is managed as inbound passengers. Customs detained the cigarettes for further disposal.

In March 2025, Heze Airport International Cargo Terminal (China's first non-port airport customs supervision site) opened. In one year, it handled 386.9 tons of goods (over 200 million yuan) with 13 transit channels. Heze Customs uses smart systems to cut transport time/cost for enterprises like Juancheng's human hair processing firm, and plans to expand fresh cold chain, cross-border e-commerce etc.

This article introduces Qingdao Port's sea rail intermodal transport development, including Qingdao Customs' supervision modes (land-sea linkage, "two pictures one review"), data (512k TEUs in Jan-Feb 2026, 2.829m TEUs in 2025), advantages (cost saving, high punctuality), and future plans to support Yellow River Basin & Belt and Road trade.

Shandong, an important steel base in China, develops high-end, intelligent and green steel industry. Its steel exports reached 11.14 billion yuan in the first two months of this year (up 32.7% YoY). Rizhao Iron and Steel has technological breakthroughs, and Qingdao Customs supports with convenient measures. Shandong's steel export potential will further release.

Ningbo Airport Port's import/export cargo volume and value grew significantly in the first two months of 2026. Mechanical products led exports, agricultural products (fresh crayfish etc.) drove imports, with Hong Kong as the largest partner. Multimodal transport and expanded routes contributed to the good start.

In the first two months of 2026, Ningbo Airport Port's import-export cargo volume hit 9749.9 tons (up 72.5% YoY) and value 4.98 billion yuan (up 208.6% YoY). Mechanical and electrical products led exports, Hong Kong (China) was the largest partner, and the airport expanded international routes and multimodal logistics.

Fuzhou Customs issued 16 measures to support Fujian's foreign trade quality and efficiency improvement, optimizing port business environment from 5 aspects (BRI core area construction, cross-border facilitation, green trade, new foreign trade space, customs service) to promote import-export growth and high-level opening up.

At Hongshun Quarantine Site in Putian, Fujian, American eel seedlings completed 14-day quarantine and will be released for 2026 "water spring plowing". Putian, relying on Mulan River, is a main eel seedling hub. Putian Customs provides "one enterprise one policy" services, having supervised 15 batches of imported eel seedlings worth 28.146 million yuan this year to ensure safe supply.

Jiangmen's foreign trade import and export reached 34.58 billion yuan in the first two months, up 11.2% year-on-year. General trade and private enterprises maintained double-digit growth, trade partner structure optimized, mechanical and electrical products export grew well, and coal and integrated circuit imports expanded steadily.

Recently, the first GMS international road transport service in the Greater Bay Area was launched. A truck loaded with 16 tons of electronic components from Shenzhen Qianhai Comprehensive Bonded Zone exited via Guangxi Friendship Customs to Vietnam, solving traditional transport pain points, saving over 30% time and reducing ~15% costs with customs support.

Shenzhen Customs reported on March 23rd that Shenzhen's Jan-Feb 2026 import/export totaled 824.23 billion yuan (37.3% YoY growth), ranking first in mainland cities. It showed five key characteristics including general trade growth, private enterprises' dominance, top ten partners' growth, electronic/emerging exports growth, and electronic component imports growth.

On March 24, Shenzhen Chuangtong Yigou's AI mini hosts (lightweight, high computing power for edge AI) were cleared by Guanlan Customs for overseas shipment. The company's exports rose 43% YoY in Jan-Feb, thanks to AEO advanced certification. Shenzhen Customs assists enterprises in obtaining AEO certification, with Shenzhen's exports of automatic data processing equipment to APEC economies up 6.1% YoY in Jan-Feb.

Shanghai's "Oriental Beauty Valley" cosmetics industry achieves 48.1% YoY export growth (310M yuan Jan-Feb 2026) via Customs' 2025 "Eleven Measures"—faster sample clearance, white list, remote inspection, reduced sampling, driving high-quality development.

On March 25, the "Cross border One Lock" fast customs clearance mode between Guangxi, Guangdong and Hong Kong was officially launched in Guangxi. It integrates customs reforms, uses GPS electronic locks for full supervision, reduces transportation time to 6-8 hours and costs by 25%, supported by Nanning Customs, boosting regional logistics and dual circulation.