The State Council Information Office held a regular briefing on State Council policies on April 28, 2026, to introduce the “Opinions on Promoting Capacity Expansion and Quality Improvement of the Service Industry”.
Assistant Minister of Commerce Zhang Li pointed out at the meeting that service trade is a direct reflection of the international competitiveness of the service industry and an important path to promote high-quality and efficient development of the service industry.
At present, our country is already a major country in service trade, and the scale of service trade ranks among the top in the world.
Li Zhang introduced that in 2025, the total import and export volume of service trade will historically exceed 8 trillion yuan, reaching 8.08 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.4%.
Among them, service exports increased by 14.2% year-on-year. Service exports grew much faster than service imports, becoming a new driving force and new engine for China’s foreign trade growth.
The Ministry of Commerce will work with various departments to encourage and support service exports from three aspects and promote international open cooperation in the service industry.
First, promote the quality and efficiency of service exports and strive to create new advantages of “Chinese services”.
Actively base on industrial advantages, coordinate producer services and consumer services, and strive to cultivate a number of internationally competitive service export enterprises and industrial clusters.
Rely on the advantages of “Made in China” to enhance the international competitiveness of transportation services and expand the export of productive services such as R&D, design, testing, and maintenance.
The 139th Canton Fair currently being held has specially introduced more than 210 trade service companies, covering 9 major categories and more than 60 subcategories of producer services.
Actively leverage China’s investment advantages to promote the coordinated overseas expansion of financial, legal, consulting and other professional services. Currently, Chinese companies have established more than 52,000 overseas enterprises, laying a good foundation for further driving related service industries to overseas.
Based on the advantages of “China’s big market”, we will promote inbound consumption and tap the export potential of traditional culture, traditional Chinese medicine, catering and other services.
Second, promote reform and opening up in the service field and optimize the development environment of “China Services”.
The negative list management system for cross-border services trade will be further improved, proactively align with international high-standard economic and trade rules, relax access restrictions in the service sector in an orderly manner, break down barriers to cross-border services trade, and promote the convenient and safe cross-border flow of funds, personnel, data and other elements closely related to service trade.
We will also coordinate the construction of major open cooperation platforms such as the National Service Trade Innovation Development Demonstration Zone, strengthen institutional innovation and policy integration, and form a batch of demonstration experiences that can be replicated and promoted.
Third, promote international cooperation in service trade and expand the “Chinese services” market space.
We will implement the global partner network plan for trade in services, rely on multi-bilateral economic and trade cooperation platforms, strengthen institutional cooperation with key service trade partners, negotiate service trade cooperation agreements with more countries, innovate cooperation methods, and tap into cooperation potential.
Various service trade promotion platforms will also be built to help establish international docking channels and help service companies participate in international competition and cooperation on a larger scale.
Through these measures, my country is expected to further improve the quality and scale of service trade, make “Chinese services” shine more dazzlingly in the global market, and inject new vitality into the development of my country’s foreign trade.
