China will launch a new round of special campaigns to facilitate cross-border trade in 2026, said Sun Meijun, head of the General Administration of Customs, at the national customs work conference in Beijing on Saturday.
Sun said that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021–2025), Chinese customs recorded an annual average of 5.2 billion tons of imports and exports, with a total value of 42.3 trillion yuan (about 6.07 trillion U.S. dollars).
During the period, China fully realized integrated customs clearance, with 19 new comprehensive bonded areas established, and 41 ports open to the outside world newly added or expanded, she said.
Sun said that a new round of initiatives will be launched in 2026 to facilitate cross-border trade, further advancing the innovative development of foreign trade.
"We will launch a new round of special campaigns to facilitate cross-border trade, support innovative development of new business forms and models such as cross-border e-commerce, overseas warehouses, the low-altitude economy, market procurement, bonded maintenance, testing, and remanufacturing, and help expand trade in intermediate goods, digital trade, and green trade," she said.
In 2026, Chinese customs will optimize supervision models for inspection and quarantine to facilitate the import of high-quality agricultural products, consumer goods, and germplasm resources.
China is one of the top three trading partners for over 160 countries and regions worldwide.
China to launch new special campaigns to facilitate cross-border trade in 2026
South China's Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP), the world's largest FTP by area, is in smooth and orderly operations one month into the launch of its special customs operations.
The island has seen an increase in both the value of imports of zero-tariff goods and the number of foreign trade entities since Dec 18.
According to the Haikou Customs, from Dec. 18, 2025 to Jan. 17, 2026, the value of "first line" imported zero-tariff goods was 750 million yuan (about 107 million U.S. dollars); the value of processed and value-added goods sold domestically through the "second line" was about 85.9 million yuan.
Meanwhile, a total of 5,132 new foreign trade entities were registered in this period.
In addition, the duty-free sales supervised by customs reached 4.86 billion yuan, up 46.8 percent year on year, and the number of shoppers rose 30.2 percent year on year to 745,000, showing sustained strong consumption vitality.
To better meet the diverse needs of tourists, Hainan's duty-free policy ushered in a new round of adjustments on Nov. 1, 2025. The categories of duty-free goods increased from 45 to 47, and the beneficiary range was expanded to include outbound travelers, attracting more international tourists to duty-free shopping.
On Dec. 18 last year, China launched island-wide special customs operations in the Hainan FTP, allowing freer entry of overseas goods, expanding zero-tariff coverage, and introducing more business-friendly measures.
One notable special customs policy is offering "freer access at the first line," referring to freer trade between Hainan and areas outside China's customs borders, and "regulated access at the second line," which involves applying standard customs controls for goods moving from Hainan to the mainland.
China's Hainan FTP sees early gains from island-wide special customs operations
