As part of a broader effort to optimize the nation's trade structure, China's foreign trade is gaining fresh momentum, with services emerging as a new driver of growth, supported by a steady rise in exports of knowledge-intensive services and a surge in inbound tourism, experts said.
Their comments came on the heels of recent data showing that China's services trade deficit shrank in April to its smallest monthly level in over a year.
The deficit in services trade fell to $14.8 billion in April, down nearly 40 percent from $24.3 billion in March, according to data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. It was the narrowest monthly gap since December 2024.
China is doubling down on services exports, with policymakers having embedded "encouraging and supporting services exports" into the Government Work Report as a key task for this year.
China's services trade has run a persistent deficit for years, due to the country's relative weakness in exporting high-value services, said Zhao Jinping, vice-president of the China Association of Trade in Services.
