MKsports central China's Hubei Province, Nov. 16, 2024. The China-Europe freight train (Wuhan) service has 55 international logistics channels reaching 40 countries and regions and 117 cities. It has become an important transportation channel of import and export for domestic foreign trade enterprises. (Xinhua/Xing Guangli)" />

An aerial drone photo shows a view at a railway station of CRIntermodal in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, Nov. 16, 2024. The China-Europe freight train (Wuhan) service has 55 international logistics channels reaching 40 countries and regions and 117 cities. It has become an important transportation channel of import and export for domestic foreign trade enterprises. (Xinhua/Xing Guangli)

In 2024, China's foreign trade has witnessed a positive trajectory of qualitative improvement and stable expansion. China's total merchandise trade grew by 5.2 year-on-year from January to October to reach 36.02 trillion yuan ($5 trillion), continuing stable growth and displaying consistent structural improvement.

China's foreign trade has generally been robust, despite mounting geopolitical challenges and economic turbulences. The strong performance has not come easily. The continuous growth of China's foreign trade also underscores its pivotal role in harnessing global commerce.

From January to September, China's total imports and exports reached 32.33 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.3 percent from a year earlier, surpassing 32 trillion yuan for the first time. The breakthrough in foreign trade scale reflects the continuous enhancement of China's export competitiveness and the potential of domestic market demand, which manifests the success of China's opening-up policies and deepening reforms.

China's robust foreign trade serves as a stabilizing force for global economic development. The recovery of China's foreign trade is pivotal in maintaining global trade flows, economic stability, and strong supply chains.

The factors contributing to the robust growth of China's foreign trade include the resilience shown in the global economic recovery, structural optimization and improved competitiveness, consistent policy support, and the ongoing optimization of the business environment for foreign trade enterprises.

In recent years, China's exports of high-tech and high-end equipment have kept gaining impetus.

The country is among the global leaders in terms of technology innovation and green transformation - reflected by the continuous breakthroughs made by Chinese industrial enterprises in core component innovation, as well as the overall acceleration of the transformation and upgrading of the industrial supply chain, leading to a steady improvement in the quality of foreign trade.

China's foreign trade structure is undergoing continuous optimization too. While actively consolidating trade with traditional markets like Europe and the US, China is also expanding into diversified markets. The trade and investment development potential in the ASEAN economies, the Belt and Road partners in Africa, Latin America and elsewhere is continuously being released, contributing to robust growth in foreign trade.

As China exports more high-quality goods and services, there is also a significant demand for imports from these countries. They together can achieve mutual benefits and develop together, contributing to global economic prosperity and stability.

Zhou Maohua Photo: Courtesy of Zhou Maohua

Looking ahead to 2025, global demand is expected to remain weak, trade protectionism is rising, while the global supply chains are being reshaped, all of which pose headwinds for global trade growth. However, the impact of these adverse factors should not be overly exaggerated.

There are more favorable elements for the development of China's foreign trade. It is expected that moderate growth can still be maintained in 2025.

First, the global economy is expected to continue its recovery trend. Currently, many international institutions predict that the world economy will continue to expand next year.

Second, China's foreign trade structure is becoming more diversified, and the quality of foreign trade is improving. There is still significant room for trade development between China and ASEAN, the partner countries of the Belt and Road Initiative, and many Latin American economies. Meanwhile, the quality of China's export goods and services is continuously improving, with substantial demand growth in green sectors and high-tech equipment manufacturing.

Third, China's domestic stimulus policies will ramp up departmental coordination to support high-quality development of foreign trade, continuously optimize the country's business environment, and may spur the emergence of new models in foreign trade.

The author is an economist with China Everbright Bank. [email protected]