After Jiangsu’s foreign trade scale reaches a record high of 5.95 trillion yuan, how will the policy be implemented?
This is not a simple question of “what to do next”.
From the perspectives of different stakeholders, the focus and logic of policy upgrades are completely different, forming a picture of multi-dimensional coordinated advancement.
From the perspective of policymakers, the core is to build a system toolbox of “provincial coordination + local characteristics”.
For provincial policymakers, policy upgrades are systematic, aiming to consolidate scale advantages while moving up the value chain.
This is reflected in three clear starting points:
- Digital trade: In July 2025, the provincial level issued “Several Measures for Jiangsu Province to Innovate and Enhance Digital Trade to Promote the High-Quality Development of Service Trade”, which will extend support from trade in goods to high-end service areas such as industrial design and international data management.
- Trade facilitation: reducing costs and increasing efficiency through digital platforms.
For example, the “Public Service Platform for Enterprises Going Overseas” has reduced the number of overseas investment filing materials from 16 to 9, and AI pre-review has enabled “secondary feedback”, benefiting more than 6,000 companies. - Precise local implementation: Under the provincial framework, each locality formulates characteristic goals.
For example, Taizhou City’s cross-border e-commerce import and export target for 2026 will exceed 1.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 50%; Nanjing City is focusing on AEO (Authorized Economic Operator) companies. Although their number only accounts for less than 0.3% of the city’s import and export companies, they contribute nearly 35% of the import and export volume. Therefore, 18 measures have been specially introduced to provide all-round support from capital to customs clearance.
For export companies, policies mean a transformation channel from “manufacturing” to “creation” and real money.
Based on the feelings of enterprises, the value of policy upgrades lies in providing a clear transformation path and practical cost reduction and efficiency improvement.
- High value-added industries have directly benefited: Taking integrated circuits as an example, Wuxi has launched a “white list” supervision for leading companies such as SK Hynix. The customs clearance time of key raw materials such as photoresist has increased by more than 70% on average, the logistics cycle of enterprises has been shortened by 67%, and the annual port detention cost has been reduced by more than one million yuan.
At the same time, integrated circuit companies can enjoy tax benefits such as super deductions for research and development expenses, which can be enjoyed in advance when making prepayments. - Traditional foreign trade has found a new way out: the “cross-border e-commerce + industrial belt” model has become the main engine of transformation.
Nanjing Tengya Industrial Group has transformed from traditional OEM and opened up the European and American markets with the garden robot category through the Amazon platform.
The province has formed characteristic cross-border e-commerce industry clusters such as Nanjing fashion clothing, Changzhou auto parts, and Taizhou musical instruments. - Private enterprises have become the biggest winners: In 2025, the import and export volume of Jiangsu private enterprises reached 2.89 trillion yuan, accounting for 48.6%, and the growth rate was higher than that of the whole.
They are the most active participants and beneficiaries of policies such as AEO certification and cross-border e-commerce support.
In the eyes of industry analysts, the key to policy is to respond to differentiation challenges and cultivate new momentum.
Looking beyond specific policy texts and analyzing macro trends, Jiangsu’s foreign trade policy upgrade is focusing on addressing two core challenges:
- Challenge 1: Industrial chain position and external risks.
Analysts pointed out that Jiangsu’s advantageous industries are highly dependent on foreign investment and are at the middle and low end of the global value chain. At the same time, they are facing the pressure of “decoupling and breaking links”.
The countermeasures are “full chain opening” and “system-based opening”.
For example, foreign investment is encouraged to set up R&D centers and regional headquarters to turn “production workshops” into “innovation brains”; in free trade zones, high standards and rules are set, and pilot projects such as cross-border data flow are carried out. - Challenge 2: Conversion of old and new kinetic energy.
Traditional cost advantages have faded, and new driving forces are in urgent need of growth.
The policy response is to vigorously cultivate new increments such as the “three new items”.
In 2025, Jiangsu’s electric vehicle exports will surge by 140.9% year-on-year, and lithium battery exports will increase by 87.2%.
Taicang Port, as the Yangtze River’s first automobile export port, will export more than 800,000 vehicles in 2025, and has added direct routes to the “Belt and Road” countries to provide hub support for new energy vehicles going overseas.
Integrated judgment: From “single point breakthrough” to “system reshaping”, Jiangsu’s foreign trade is entering a new stage of resilient growth.
Based on the above perspectives, the direction of Jiangsu’s foreign trade policy upgrade is clearly discernible: it is no longer a scattered preferential measure, but a systematic reshaping around industrial upgrading, business innovation, and service escort.
- From the pursuit of scale to building resilience: the policy diversifies external risks and consolidates the foundation for growth through market diversification (the average annual compound growth rate of imports and exports to Central Asia exceeds 100%), entity diversification (strengthening private enterprises), and product diversification (strengthening the “three new things”).
- From policy-driven to ecological empowerment: The focus shifts from direct subsidies to building an overseas ecosystem including digital platforms, overseas warehouses, talent cultivation, and compliance services, allowing companies to “go far” and “go steadily.”
- Future focus: As suggested by members of the Provincial CPPCC, the next step will be to focus more on creating a “chain owner + small and medium-sized enterprises” ecosystem, promoting the entire industry chain to go overseas, and seizing new tracks such as green trade.
Therefore, the upgrade of Jiangsu’s foreign trade policy is essentially a key leap for Jiangsu, as a major economic province, to shift from relying on traditional comparative advantages to relying on new competitive advantages centered on innovation-driven and system resilience amid profound changes in the global trade pattern.
Data growth is the result, and multi-dimensional policy coordination and precise drip irrigation are the fundamental logic driving this leap.
