On June 16, the 2026 China-US Local Cooperation Dialogue concluded successfully in Zhengzhou, Henan.
This grand exchange gathering brought together more than 200 representatives of government, enterprise, and academia from China and the United States. It anchored the in-depth docking of agriculture, food, and general health real industries, finalized a number of implementation cooperation agreements on site, and established a stable and sustainable grassroots industry cooperation channel between China and the United States.
On the day after the signing of the Sino-US local cooperation agreement in Zhengzhou, Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced China’s latest trade report card: China is now the main trading partner of more than 160 countries and regions, and a global economic and trade cooperation network spanning five continents and blooming everywhere has clearly taken shape.
1. Zhengzhou Dialogue: Practical local cooperation between China and the United States breaks down macro-level differences
In recent years, the high-level game between China and the United States has often fluctuated, but the demand for cooperation between provinces, states, and the private real economy has never diminished. This dialogue in Zhengzhou is the best proof.
This dialogue attracted governments from more than 20 states in the United States, agricultural associations, leading companies such as Wal-Mart and Cargill, and representatives from Harvard and Yale universities gathered in the Central Plains. They put aside geopolitical issues and focused on industries that are urgently needed for people’s livelihood.
For U.S. states, China’s huge consumer market can digest local grain, oil, agricultural and animal husbandry products, and expand corporate profit channels; for domestic agricultural provinces, especially Henan, it can also introduce overseas modern agricultural technologies and improve the food processing industry chain to achieve two-way mutual benefit.
Local cooperation avoids complex political differences and only talks about industry, trade, and employment. It has become an indispensable buffer zone for maintaining bilateral relations between China and the United States. It also proves that pragmatic and win-win cooperation is the common aspiration of market entities in both countries.
2. 160 major trading partners!
China’s foreign trade territory has expanded by leaps and bounds
From the early days of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, there were only dozens of trading partners, to now more than 160 countries and regions around the world regard China as a core trading partner. This report card intuitively shows the transformation of China’s foreign trade over the past few decades.
The current global trade environment is not optimistic: trade barriers in various countries continue to increase, regional economic and trade cooperation is fragmented and small circles are on the rise, and many countries have tightened import and export restrictions.
Against this background, China can still steadily expand its circle of global trade friends. The core confidence comes from three points:
1. A complete industrial chain, providing irreplaceable supply capabilities
my country has the world’s largest industrial system with the most complete categories. From basic agricultural products and daily consumer goods to high-end manufacturing equipment and biomedical products, it can meet the procurement needs of different countries and markets at different levels. It is difficult for countries to operate independently from China’s industrial chain.
2. Adhere to openness and inclusiveness, and do not create exclusive trade circles
Unlike some countries that build trade barriers and build camps for confrontation, China continues to promote free trade agreements and Belt and Road economic and trade cooperation, treats developed and developing countries equally, does not set unilateral restrictions, and shares development dividends equally.
3. The huge domestic demand market has become an important export destination for global commodities
The huge domestic demand market, composed of more than one billion people, is an incremental space that companies from all over the world cannot ignore.
Whether it is agricultural products from the United States, tropical crops from Southeast Asia, high-end manufacturing from Europe, or mineral resources from Latin America, they can all find stable sales in China. It is a spontaneous choice of the market for countries to proactively deepen trade cooperation with China.
3. While stabilizing local cooperation between China and the United States, while laying out a global diversified trade network
Many people will wonder why China can simultaneously take into account local cooperation between China and the United States and steadily expand a diversified trade network covering the world?
The two do not conflict, but complement each other: Sino-US provincial and state cooperation is the epitome of pragmatic exchanges between China and developed economies, and more than 160 trading partners across five continents have built a diversified foreign trade pattern that spreads risks.
Even if there are fluctuations in the economy and trade of individual regions, the vast global cooperation network can hedge against the impact and ensure the long-term stable development of foreign trade.
The Zhengzhou Dialogue released a key signal: China does not exclude mutually beneficial cooperation with any country. Even if there are conceptual differences between the two sides, as long as we focus on the real economy and pursue win-win results, we can find an entry point for cooperation; and trading partners around the world have proven with practical actions that multilateral openness, mutual benefit and win-win are the mainstream trends in global trade development.
Zhengzhou’s Sino-US local cooperation was successfully implemented, covering a huge trading partner territory of more than 160 countries. The two results, taken together, clearly sent a signal: blockade and confrontation are not in line with the trend of the times, and open cooperation is the common way out for all countries.
In the future, China will continue to deepen local grassroots industrial exchanges between China and the United States on the one hand, and deepen its global diversified trade layout on the other. Relying on its complete industrial advantages and large market scale, China will continue to share development opportunities with other countries around the world.
