In the just - past 2024, Chinaforeign tradeovercame the complex and changeable external environment and severe challenges, successfully achieving steady growth in exports and structural optimization. Official statistics show that in 2024, Chinas foreign tradeimport and exportThe total value reached 43.85 trillion yuan (about 6.2 trillion US dollars), a year - on - year increase of 5%, hitting a new high in history. Looking back on this year, there were frequent new elements: multiple innovative factors, including new business forms, new brands, and new products, jointly contributed to maintaining Chinas position as the worlds largest goods trading country in foreign trade.

Against this backdrop,Cross-border E-commerceit became one of the major highlights. In 2024, the total import and export volume of cross - border e - commerce for the whole year was 2.63 trillion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 10.8%, far exceeding the growth rate of traditional foreign trade. The market director of a cross - border e - commerce enterprise in Beijing said that with theInternational Logisticsrapid development of and Internet technology, as well as the acceleration of going global by many Chinese e - commerce platforms, the foreign markets that mainly relied on traditional offline channels in the past are now facing a window period for cross - border e - commerce. Whether it is Temu, SHEIN, or other emerging platforms, they enable consumers to more conveniently access a vast number of Chinese - made products, giving more possibilities tosell globally.

A manager who has long been engaged in the export business of household items said that they used to rely mainly on large overseas e - commerce platforms such as Amazon for sales, but now the cross - border e - commerce platforms built by Chinese enterprises themselves are beginning to gain a firm foothold in the European and American markets. Some small factories can even bypass middlemen and directly connect with overseas consumers, achieving product customization and efficient logistics. The manager pointed out that the European and American markets are relatively mature, and they started to consider the Southeast Asian market as a key area this year, hoping to explore new growth space in regions with a rapidly growing demographic dividend.

One of the key factors that have contributed to the continued acceleration of cross - border e - commerce development is policy support. At the end of last year, China Customs issued a number of facilitation measures to encourage cross - border e - commerce exports, such as simplifying the export document declaration process and promoting the cross - customs - area return supervision model. Industry insiders said that these new policies have substantially reduced the operating costs of enterprises and greatly improved customs clearance efficiency, enabling enterprises to keep up with overseas order demands in a timely manner and reducing inventory and capital occupation. On the buy global front, cross - border e - commerce has also enabled more overseas agricultural products to enter the Chinese market, meeting the increasingly diversified consumer demands. Companies engaged in the import business of African agricultural products said that they are further promoting products such as Zambian honey and South African specialty tea to Chinese consumers through e - commerce and live - streaming.

If cross - border e - commerce injects more flexibility into foreign trade, advanced manufacturing is the solid cornerstone of Chinas hard - core strength in foreign trade. Data shows that in 2024, the manufacturing industry accounted for as high as 98.9% of Chinas total export value, among which the export of mechanical and electrical products increased by 8.7%, and the export growth rate of more advanced high - end equipment exceeded 40%. The industry generally believes that this is due to Chinas complete industrial system and the continuous increase in technological content. An enterprise specializing in the production and export of mechanical and electrical products revealed that despite the uncertainties in the external environment, their export value to the European and American markets still increased by about 20%, mainly due to the continuous improvement of the cost - effectiveness and compliance quality standards of their products.

At the same time, the demand for intelligence is driving the traditional home appliance industry to complete the upgrade frommanufacturing tosmart manufacturing. The vice - director of the General Administration of Customs of China emphasized at a press conference that in recent years, the market demand for various types of intelligent home appliance products has significantly expanded, injecting new growth momentum into Chinas foreign trade. Data shows that in 2024, the export of home appliances increased by 15.4%, and the sales volume of products such as dishwashers, smart washing machines, and smart refrigerators increased significantly in different countries. A procurement officer of a foreign - funded enterprise said that home appliances with intelligent control systems are particularly popular in the European market. Thanks to their energy - saving, emission - reducing, and convenient - operation features, they meet the local consumption trend of emphasizing environmental protection and high - quality life.

The person in charge of an enterprise specializing in the production of electric doors and windows and related control systems shared that in 2024, the companys export value increased by nearly 12%, and it successfully entered the South American market. The person in charge said that due to Chinas continuous expansion of opening up in recent years, many international buyers have started to choose to visit factories in China in person to negotiate purchases, which has greatly promoted the cooperation process. He also revealed that thanks to the visa - free policies or visa facilitation measures implemented by some countries, the negotiation model of overseas customers coming at any time has become more common, which was unthinkable in the past.

Industry experts pointed out that through the pursuit of intelligence, high - end, and green development, Chinese manufacturing is meeting the global demand for high - value - added products. In this process, China, with a complete industrial chain and a flexible supply chain system, can respond promptly to changes in international market demands and provide diversified and customized products. This is also one of the important factors for the steady growth of foreign trade in 2024. As the person in charge of a research institution said: China does not rely on a single product category to win, but rather has multiple successes across the entire industrial chain. From large offshore engineering equipment to small translation headphones, all have excellent quality, sufficient to cope with the complex and changing international situation.