China’s Politburo pledges action to tackle trade ‘struggles’ in 2026
Analysts said the decision-making body’s phrasing on the international trade environment suggests a cautious stance next year despite US truce
China has pledged to better coordinate its domestic economic work to account for international trade turbulence next year, with a high-level decision-making body calling for the promotion of “effective qualitative improvement and reasonable quantitative growth” in the country’s economy.
After a meeting of the ruling Communist Party’s Politburo on Monday, the 24-member body said China would “seek progress while maintaining stability” in next year’s economic work, and continue to exert a “more proactive” fiscal policy and “moderately loose” monetary policy.
“[We need] to better coordinate domestic economic work and international economic and trade struggles, as well as development and security,” according to a readout released by state news agency Xinhua.
It highlighted the need to “keep domestic demand as the main driver” and build a robust market within the country’s borders, while calling for promoting innovation and “accelerating the cultivation and expansion of new growth drivers”.
Su Yue, principal economist for China at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said describing next year’s international economic and trade work as a “struggle” highlighted that stabilising foreign trade – especially maintaining trade relations beyond the US – has been “elevated to one of the Party’s key priorities.”
“The emphasis on a ‘spirit of struggle’ – daring to take a firm stance in the face of major challenges, confront conflicts head-on, and step forward amid crises – suggests that China expects the external trade environment to remain difficult,” Su said.
“It also indicates that China is unlikely to make major concessions simply to secure temporary peace.”
As the world’s second-largest economy is seen as largely staying on course to reach its annual economic target this year despite rising external headwinds – notably a renewed trade war with the United States that escalated to an unprecedented level earlier this year, attention is now shifting to 2026, the first year covered by China’s 15th five-year plan.