The number of pilot cities for the 2026 Special Action on Trade Facilitation in Cross-Border Trade will be increased to 45.

　　Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, March 16 (Reporter Zou Yuqin, Zou Duowei) High-quality development of foreign trade is inseparable from the continuous improvement of trade facilitation levels. In response to the latest changes in the international trade environment, the General Administration of Customs, together with the Central Cyberspace Administration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Commerce, and 24 other departments (units), jointly launched a six-month special action for cross-border trade facilitation in 2026.

　　Sun Meijun, Director of the General Administration of Customs, stated at the deployment meeting for the 2026 cross-border trade facilitation special action held on the same day that compared to last year, this year's special action has further expanded and increased the number of pilot cities, adding 20 new cities including Hohhot, Changchun, Suzhou, Jinhua, Quanzhou, Nanchang, Yantai, Wuhan, Changsha, Zhuhai, Nanning, Kunming, Xi'an, with a total of 45 cities participating.

　　Specifically, focusing on optimizing and upgrading goods trade, vigorously developing service trade, innovating digital trade and green trade, this year's special action has introduced a new round of 29 policy measures to help improve the quality and efficiency of foreign trade. These mainly include deepening the innovation of import and export customs clearance supervision models, optimizing the supervision services for new foreign trade formats, enhancing cross-border logistics transportation efficiency, strengthening the construction of intelligent ports, promoting the interconnection of standards and rules, and strengthening comprehensive services for enterprises.

　　A relevant official from the National Port Management Office of the General Administration of Customs introduced that promoting cross-border trade facilitation is an inevitable requirement for expanding openness, enhancing cooperation, and smoothing domestic and international dual circulation. It is an effective measure to actively respond to changes in the international situation, help enterprises stabilize orders, expand markets, and increase benefits, and is also a concrete action to maintain the World Trade Organization's Trade Facilitation Agreement and support the multilateral trade system.

　　Since 2018, the General Administration of Customs, together with relevant departments, has organized special actions for cross-border trade facilitation every year. By 2025, a total of 144 facilitation measures have been introduced, of which 110 mature measures have been replicated and promoted nationwide.