China's foreign trade hits new record high of 45.47 trillion yuan in 2025, demonstrating strong resilience and vitality

This aerial drone photo taken on Dec. 27, 2025 shows cargo ships loading and unloading containers at Qingdao Port in east China's Shandong Province. (Photo by Yu Fangping/Xinhua)

China's foreign trade in goods grew by 3.8 percent year-on-year to reach 45.47 trillion yuan ($6.51 trillion) in 2025, hitting a new record high and demonstrating strong resilience and vitality, official data showed on Wednesday.

The country continues to maintain its position as the world's largest trading nation in goods last year, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs (GAC). In 2025, China's exports grew by 6.1 percent year-on-year to reach 26.99 trillion yuan, while imports grew by 0.5 percent year-on-year to reach 18.48 trillion yuan, the data showed.

"Under the complex situation where the international environment undergoes profound changes and the global economic and trade order faces major challenges, the achievements in China's foreign trade sector are extraordinary and hard-won," Wang Jun, deputy head of the GAC, said at a press conference on Wednesday on the release of the data.

The achievements attained under pressure from complex external environment fully demonstrates improvement in the quality of China's foreign trade enterprises, the competitiveness of China's foreign trade products, and the adaptability to the international market, Bai Ming, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Bai pointed out highlights including enhanced diversification of trading partners, rising global competitiveness of its exports, especially high-tech products, and an increasingly open domestic vast market that means expanding imports.

China's export market was increasingly diversified last year. The country has established trade ties with over 240 countries and regions, and its trade with over 190 countries and regions reported positive growth, customs data showed.

The data highlighted a 6.3 percent year-on-year increase in trade with Belt and Road partner countries to reach 23.6 trillion yuan, accounting for 51.9 percent of the country's total foreign trade value.

China's trade with the ASEAN grew by 8 percent year-on-year to reach 7.55 trillion yuan, trade with Latin America rose 6.5 percent year-on-year to 3.93 trillion yuan, and trade with Africa jumped 18.4 percent year-on-year to reach 2.49 trillion yuan, according to the GAC.

"China's manufacturing sector is taking up speed to make breakthroughs in core technologies and continue to climb in the global value chain. The rise of products such as electric vehicles, ships, and industrial robots has reshaped China's export competitiveness in the international arena, while the popularity of guochao(China chic) products allow other countries to fully aware of China's productivity and innovation capability," Huo Jianguo, a vice chairman of the China Society for World Trade Organization Studies in Beijing, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

In 2025, China's exports of high-tech products climbed 13.2 percent year-on-year to reach 5.25 trillion yuan. The exports of "new trio" - which includes electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, and photovoltaic products - soared by 27.1 percent year-on-year, while the exports of green products such as wind turbines rose 48.7 percent year-on-year, the data showed.

China's exports of domestic brands grew by 12.9 percent year-on-year, with the proportion in total export value up by 1.4 percentage points, according to the GAC.

Currently, there are over 780,000 business entities with import and export records. Among them, private enterprises continue to serve as the main engine in foreign trade, with their import and export volume reaching 26.04 trillion yuan, an increase of 7.1 percent year-on-year. Their share of the total import and export value rising to 57.3 percent, the data showed.

In the meantime, China's ultra-large scale market potential is continuously being unleashed, providing more opportunities for countries around the world. Against the backdrop of international trade volatility, China's import maintained growth for a consecutive of three quarters since the second quarter last year, with the import of machinery products growing by 5.7 percent year-on-year to reach 7.41 trillion yuan, the data showed.

Regarding the foreign trade situation this year, overall, the global trade lacks growth momentum, and China's foreign trade development still faces severe and complex external environment, Wang said.

"At the same time, we must recognize that China's institutional strengths, market advantages, industrial system strengths, and talent resource advantages have become more prominent. Our trade partners have become more diverse, and risk resistance capabilities have been significantly enhanced. The fundamentals of China's foreign trade remain solid," the official said.

The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held in October pointed out that "We should take the initiative to open China wider, promote the innovative development of trade, create greater space for two-way investment cooperation, and pursue high-quality Belt and Road cooperation." Wang said the important deployment provides stable expectations for the sustained upward development of China's foreign trade sector and will inject more certainty to global economic and trade development.

Primarily due to stronger export growth expectations, foreign financial institution Goldman Sachs recently raised its real GDP growth forecasts for China to 4.8 percent in 2026 and 4.7 percent in 2027, up from previous estimates of 4.3 percent and 4.0 percent.