BEIJING: The State Council pinpointed cross-border e-commerce as a new pillar for China’s foreign trade sector as it rolled out measures to establish 46 new pilot zones to counter the blow dealt to world trade by novel coronavirus pneumonia.
The Cabinet said after its executive meeting on April 7 that the unique edge of cross-border e-commerce must be honed as traditional foreign trade sectors are hit hard by the pandemic.
The 46 new cross-border e-commerce pilot zones will be in addition to 59 existing ones. Businesses in such zones enjoy preferential policies such as exemptions on value-added and excise taxes on retail exports.
China is also weighing measures to include cities hosting the zones in a pilot program focusing on retail e-commerce imports, and to support businesses that build shared overseas warehouses, the Cabinet said.
The executive meeting was the fourth in a month at which the Cabinet discussed measures to stabilize foreign trade. The World Trade Organization said in a report published on Wednesday that global trade is expected to fall between 13 percent and 32 percent this year as the pandemic disrupts normal economic activity and life around the world. Over 120 countries and regions have imposed restrictions on cargo and passenger flows, according to the Ministry of Commerce.
The downturn in the global trade and investment caused by the pandemic is set to have a huge impact on China’s industry and supply chains, Premier Li Keqiang said at the Cabinet meeting.
“More importantly, the foreign trade sector, directly or indirectly, accounted for the employment of 180 million people,” he said. “A downturn in foreign trade will almost certainly hit the job market hard.”
Retail sales by China’s cross-border e-commerce sector were worth 186.2 billion yuan ($26.4 billion) last year, up 38.3 percent year-on-year, according to the General Administration of Customs. – Agencies
