China’s foreign trade will continue to benefit from multiple favorable conditions in 2026 despite a more complex and uncertain external environment, Commerce Ministry spokeswoman He Yongqian said at a press conference in Beijing on Thursday.

She made the remarks in response to a newly released report on foreign trade performance in 2025. The country's foreign trade expanded 3.8 percent year on year in yuan terms in 2025 to 45.47 trillion yuan (about 6.48 trillion U.S. dollars), and its exports rose 6.1 percent year on year to 26.99 trillion yuan, while imports increased 0.5 percent to 18.48 trillion yuan, the General Administration of Customs said on Wednesday.

"China will confront an external environment that is to undergo profound and complex changes in 2026, with strategic opportunities existing alongside risks and challenges and more uncertain and unpredictable factors. But China's economy is underpinned by solid fundamentals, multiple advantages, strong resilience and great potential, so there are still many favorable conditions for the development of foreign trade. The Ministry of Commerce will earnestly implement the decisions and plans made by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, focus on the targets of innovation-driven development and improvement of quality and efficiency, endeavor to promote integrated development of trade and investment, foster new drivers of foreign trade, and make every effort to stabilize the fundamentals of foreign trade, so as to contribute to a good start for the 15th Five-Year Plan," she said.