Three policies of the Ministry of Commerce to strengthen the support of foreign trade enterprises

In 2025, when the global supply chain is restructured and trade protectionism continues to ferment, the Ministry of Commerce has launched a policy combination of "strengthening performance guarantee, increasing credit insurance, and optimizing market guidelines" to build up a dual support system of risk prevention and control and market expansion for foreign trade enterprises. This series of measures not only relieves difficulties at present, but also focuses on the long-term systematic opening up, and enhances enterprises' confidence in going overseas through precise measures.

I. Performance guarantee: Logistics optimization and mechanism innovation driven by two wheels

Performance capability is the lifeline of foreign trade enterprises. The Ministry of Commerce has cracked the pain points of supply chain through the mode of "hard infrastructure + soft service": in terms of logistics protection, relying on the stable operation of China-Europe liner and western land and sea new channel, it promotes the implementation of the policy of freight deduction for the domestic section. Take Wuhan Customs as an example, in 2024, 204 enterprises deducted freight charges of 6,373,200 yuan, saving taxes of more than 1,220,000 yuan, and enterprises through the international trade "Single Window" can realize a convenient declaration experience similar to "ordering takeout". This digitalized regulatory innovation of "policy + technology" enables enterprises along the western land and sea corridor to reduce taxes by nearly 4 million yuan annually.

At the same time, the Ministry of Commerce has established a round-table meeting mechanism for foreign trade enterprises, forming a closed-loop service of problem collection, rapid response and follow-up. For the shortage of raw materials, cross-border logistics delays and other compliance problems, cross-departmental coordination to open up the blockage, to protect the continuity of enterprise production. Enterprises such as China Innovation and Navigation Technology have already felt the policy dividends, and its customs manager, Lv Jiaqi, said that the freight deduction policy under the CIF transaction mode is not a large amount, but the long-term accumulation can significantly reduce the cost of taxes.

II. Upgrading credit insurance: system improvement and service expansion in both directions

As a "stabilizer" for foreign trade, export credit insurance will usher in a double upgrade of supervision and service in 2025. the Measures for Supervision and Administration of China Export Credit Insurance Corporation (CECIC), which was implemented in January, strengthens the prevention and control of risks and requires the establishment of a vertical management system that covers seven major types of risks, including insurance risk and credit risk. Relying on the global information database of 420 million enterprises and more than 400 overseas recovery channels, China Credit Insurance Corporation (CICC) has realized full-process services from risk assessment to post-compensation recovery, and paid out USD 1.58 billion in claims in the first nine months of 2024, serving 222,000 enterprises, a year-on-year growth of 12%.

The policy orientation has become more precise, and short-term credit insurance products continue to be enriched, focusing on supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to explore emerging markets. Data show that export credit insurance has directly and indirectly driven China's exports accounted for 24.5%, playing a key role in counter-cyclical regulation. The regulatory approach especially emphasizes the enhancement of service capacity, guiding the credit insurance resources to the policy function, through the "risk prevention, make up for the loss, promote financing" combo, for enterprises to undertake the order to inject the bottom line.

III. Market Guide: Rule Docking and Digital Enablement to Enhance Expansion Efficiency

In terms of optimizing market guidelines, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) has lowered the threshold for enterprises to go overseas through transparency of rules and digitalization of services; the 2025 version of the Negative List for Market Access has been reduced to 106 items; a number of licensing matters, such as TV drama production and pharmaceutical wholesaling, have been abolished; and the access norms for unmanned aerial vehicles, e-cigarettes, and other new businesses have been clarified. In line with the Opinions on Further Strengthening Trade Policy Compliance, enterprises can more clearly grasp the requirements of domestic and international rules and regulations and avoid compliance risks.

In response to the problem of asymmetric information on overseas markets, the Ministry of Commerce has continued to issue country-specific trade guides, combining resources from exhibitions such as the Canton Fair to guide enterprises to explore diversified markets. The upgraded freight release system for the domestic section in Guangdong covers the data of 19 railroad lines in the new western land and sea corridor, and enterprises can obtain reference freight rates by inputting keywords, which greatly simplifies the declaration process. This "information empowerment + platform support" model enables enterprises to more accurately grasp global market opportunities.

From optimizing logistics costs to strengthening risk protection to empowering market information, the Ministry of Commerce's policy combinations have formed a support network covering the entire chain of foreign trade. Against the backdrop of rising global economic uncertainty, these measures not only provide relief for enterprises, but also build up long-term competitiveness through institutional innovation, promote the transformation of foreign trade from "scale expansion" to "quality and efficiency", and inject sustained momentum into the construction of a strong trading nation.