Recently, there have been constant developments in the field of cross-border e-commerce. Driven by the continuous optimization of policies throughout the industry, the export of domestic products overseas has ushered in a golden development window.
From the national top-level design to the detailed measures of each department, a series of policy combinations have broken down barriers to going overseas, reduced operating costs, and improved the security system, bringing long-term development opportunities for domestic products going overseas.
The 2026 Government Work Report includes cross-border e-commerce as a key deployment for the fourth consecutive year, and clearly proposes to “promote the expansion and upgrading of the cross-border e-commerce plus overseas warehouse model, and standardize and orderly development.”
This change in expression reflects the country’s strategic positioning of cross-border e-commerce from “barbaric growth” to “improvement of quality and efficiency”, and delineates a clear path for domestic products to go overseas. It is necessary to expand the scale and build a solid foundation.
Customs clearance efficiency has always been the core pain point restricting domestic products from going overseas.
This year’s policy optimization has achieved many breakthroughs in customs clearance.
The General Administration of Customs promotes the cross-customs return model for cross-border e-commerce retail export goods. Starting from April 1, overseas returned goods do not need to be returned to the original export customs. They can be returned at any customs port across the country, which solves the problem of “difficult and expensive returns” and reduces the trial and error cost of domestic products going overseas.
At the same time, the 2026 cross-border trade facilitation special action launched measures to explore export LCL “first inspection before shipment” and optimize the supervision of key commodities to achieve a refined upgrade of the supervision model, shorten customs clearance time, and make logistics links smoother.
Cost control is one of the core competitiveness of domestic products going overseas, and tax preferential policies are accurately implemented.
From 2026 to 2027, cross-border e-commerce export returned goods (excluding food) will be exempt from import duties and link taxes, and export duties levied can be refunded, reducing the economic losses caused by unsaleable and returned domestic products.
The policy also clearly implements “tax refund upon departure and accounting after sale”, cancels the registration of export overseas warehouse companies, simplifies the registration process, speeds up the receipt of tax refunds, injects working capital into overseas companies, and relieves the cash flow pressure of small and medium-sized domestic brands.
The stability and coverage of cross-border logistics determine the scope of domestic products going overseas.
Current policies support new models such as “China-Europe trains + cross-border e-commerce” and “market procurement + cross-border e-commerce” to promote the expansion and upgrading of overseas warehouses.
Overseas warehouses have been upgraded from single warehousing to smart logistics hubs. The global “Smart Customs” online cooperation platform has been launched, and 146 World Customs Organization member customs have joined. The international trade “single window” has realized electronic data exchange with many countries, making logistics tracking and customs clearance connections more efficient, and avoiding the risk of information asymmetry in cross-border logistics.
As global trade rules become stricter, compliance has become a “required course” for domestic products to go overseas.
The “Regulations of the State Council on the Handling of Foreign-Related Intellectual Property Disputes” issued in 2025 provides a legal path for domestic products to go overseas to protect their rights.
In 2026, six departments including the Ministry of Commerce jointly issued a document to clearly formulate guidelines for going overseas, support the construction of compliance service platforms, encourage companies to register trademarks and apply for patents overseas, help domestic products avoid overseas legal risks, and promote domestic products to shift from “low-price competition” to “brand compliance competition.”
The release of policy dividends is reflected in industry growth data.
In 2025, my country’s cross-border e-commerce import and export volume will be 2.75 trillion yuan, an increase of 69.7% compared with 2020.
Data in the first quarter of 2026 hit a new high, with imports and exports reaching 618.46 billion yuan, of which exports were 473.55 billion yuan. This shows the improvement of the competitiveness of domestic products and the enhancement of market confidence.
Policies encourage innovation in diversified models.
In addition to “cross-border e-commerce + overseas warehouses”, “Silk Road e-commerce” has expanded emerging market channels, deeply integrated digital trade and cross-border e-commerce, and launched new business formats such as live streaming e-commerce and social e-commerce overseas, breaking the limitations of traditional shelf sales and building overseas brand recognition through the “product + content” model.
my country’s complete industrial chain is the core confidence for domestic products to go overseas.
Policies promote the in-depth binding of industrial belts and cross-border e-commerce, forming a cluster overseas model of “industrial belt + cross-border e-commerce”. Each industrial belt relies on its supply chain advantages to quickly respond to the personalized and small-volume needs of overseas markets.
Domestic products going overseas require professionals who understand cross-border and overseas markets.
Cross-border e-commerce talent training systems have been established in many places, and practical training has been carried out to increase the supply of talents.
The aggregation of government, enterprise, academic and research resources and the establishment of normalized legal services and market research service mechanisms have lowered the entry threshold for small and medium-sized domestic brands to go overseas.
During the golden window period, domestic products need to develop three core capabilities: product strength, compliance strength and brand strength.
At the same time, although domestic products going overseas face challenges such as global economic fluctuations, regional trade barriers, and intensified market competition, the continued optimization of policies, the global market’s demand for high-quality domestic products, and the advantages of my country’s industrial chain and digital trade will not change.
The continuous optimization of cross-border e-commerce policies has set up a broad stage for domestic products to go overseas. Domestic product practitioners should deepen their product development, adhere to compliance, polish their brands, and take advantage of the policy to allow more high-quality domestic products to go global and shine with the brilliance of China’s intelligent manufacturing.
