Foreign trade is an important component of China’s open economy, and the Foreign Trade Law serves as a fundamental law in the field of foreign trade. Since its implementation in 1994, the current Foreign Trade Law has undergone a comprehensive revision in 2004 and amendments in 2016 and 2022.
On September 8, 2025, China submitted the draft revision of its Foreign Trade Law to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress for the first review, aiming to consolidate recent foreign trade reforms, promote new trade formats, and strengthen legal countermeasures against foreign trade restrictions and sanctions.
One year earlier, in September 2024, the Ministry of Commerce, together with relevant departments, studied and drafted the Foreign Trade Law of the People’s Republic of China (Draft Revision for Soliciting Opinions) and publicly solicited feedback.
On behalf of the State Council, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao explained the Draft Revision at the Standing Committee meeting on September 8.
Regarding the background of the revision, he explained that, up to now, China’s goods trade volume remains the largest in the world, and its service trade volume ranks second globally, and the institutional framework of the current law is generally feasible.
In recent years, new situations and changes have emerged in the field of foreign trade, reforms of the foreign trade system have been deepened, new formats and models of foreign trade have developed rapidly, and the achievements of related reforms and innovations need to be consolidated through legal means in a timely manner, said Wang.
At the same time, international unilateralism, protectionism, and bullying behaviors are intensifying, with Western countries imposing suppression and sanctions on China in the trade field, making it necessary for the supplementation and improvement of corresponding countermeasures at the legal level, he said.
The Draft Revision consists of 11 chapters and 80 articles, making relatively comprehensive revisions to the current law. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee in 2024 proposed building institutional support and policy support systems for a trade power, accelerating the integration of domestic and foreign trade reforms, and actively responding to trends in trade digitalization and greening.
To implement the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee and the Central Economic Work Conference, the Draft Revision stipulates that the country shall proactively align with high-standard international economic and trade rules, actively participate in the formulation of international economic and trade rules, and elevate reform measures such as cross-border service trade negative list management, supporting and promoting new formats and models of foreign trade, supporting and encouraging the development of digital trade, and accelerating the establishment of a green trade system into the legal system to ensure that reform measures are implemented effectively.
In terms of optimizing the foreign trade development environment, the Draft Revision clarifies that the state will strengthen intellectual property protection related to foreign trade, improve the compliance level and risk response capabilities of foreign trade operators regarding intellectual property, establish a trade adjustment assistance system to stabilize industrial and supply chains, encourage professional service institutions to improve service networks and provide high-quality professional services for foreign trade operators, and stipulate the establishment and improvement of diversified mechanisms for resolving foreign trade disputes.
In recent years, geopolitical risks have intensified, with increasing uncertainties in the international trade environment. Wang said that in response to situations such as certain Western countries suppressing and sanctioning China in the foreign trade field, the Draft Revision supplements and improves corresponding countermeasures, providing institutional support for precise, forceful, and effective counteractions.
Specifically, these include: first, for foreign individuals or organizations that endanger China’s sovereignty, security, or development interests, provisions are made to take countermeasures such as prohibiting or restricting their involvement in foreign trade with China; second, any individual or organization is prohibited from providing support, assistance, or facilitation for acts circumventing countermeasures, and violations will be handled and punished according to law; third, in accordance with WTO rules, it is clarified that for reasons such as safeguarding national security, relevant measures may be taken to prohibit or restrict the import and export of goods, technology, and relevant international service trade, or to take other necessary measures; the Draft Revision also adds “other emergency situations in international relations” as a statutory ground for taking trade prohibitions or restrictions; fourth, if the dispute resolution mechanisms stipulated by relevant treaties or agreements cannot function normally, causing China’s rights and interests under the treaty or agreement to be lost or impaired, or if the objectives of the treaty or agreement cannot be achieved, the Chinese government may take corresponding measures according to the actual situation.