China pledges more balanced trade and further opening of the economy after record surplus

China will import more high-quality foreign goods and work with all parties to promote optimised and balanced trade development and expand the global trade pie, Li told the China Development Forum in Beijing, according to state media.

The annual two-day forum, which concludes on Monday, allows Beijing to lay out its economic vision and investment opportunities to foreign business leaders, Chinese officials, economists and academics. It comes after the world’s second-biggest economy reported a record $1.2 trillion trade surplus for 2025.

Challenges for Beijing are aplenty, including deflecting concerns from an increasing number of global capitals about China’s trade practices and overcapacity, as well as its overreliance on key Chinese products.

While Li’s speech did not appear to directly mention the surplus, his pledges indicate an awareness that the issue could disrupt international relations at a time when China has reached a temporary truce with the US on trade.

US President Donald Trump last week postponed a trip to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping due to the Iran war, delaying an effort to ease tensions between the world’s two biggest economies.

In a separate speech at the forum, China’s central bank governor Pan Gongsheng also sought to alleviate concerns surrounding the trade surplus.

“Analysing global economic imbalances requires looking not only at trade in goods but also services, and not only at the current account but also the financial account,” Pan said, according to a transcript of his speech published by the People’s Bank of China, adding that China is the country with the largest goods surplus but also the largest services deficit.

China has no need and no intention to gain trade competitive advantage through currency depreciation, Pan said.

China is working to reverse a decline in foreign direct investment, which fell 5.7 per cent year-on-year to just over 92bn yuan ($13.36bn) in January, following a 9.5pc drop over the course of 2025.

In December, China added 200 sectors to a list of those eligible for foreign investment incentives, from tax breaks to preferential land use, with a focus on advanced manufacturing, modern services and green and high-tech sectors.

Li said foreign firms would be treated in the same way as domestic ones, allowing enterprises from all countries to develop with confidence and realise their ambitions in China.

In a separate meeting, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao told business leaders from a US pharmaceutical trade group and executives from five major multinational drug companies that China will strengthen intellectual property protection and improve policy transparency.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, in a keynote speech, said that the company would continue to work with Chinese suppliers to further advance the industry, state media reported.

Senior executives from Samsung Electronics, Volkswagen, chipmaker Broadcom Inc, industrial conglomerate Siemens, chemical producer BASF and pharmaceuticals firm Novartis are among those attending the forum.

Financial institutions, including HSBC Holdings, UBS Group and Standard Chartered, also sent representatives.