September 3, 2026 (InvestinChina.asia) — The Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) held its regular press conference at 3 p.m. on September 3, with spokesperson Huang Ling, deputy director-general of the Department of Electronic Commerce and Information Technology, presiding. The briefing covered fresh bilateral cooperation agreements with Kyrgyzstan and Egypt, a newly issued guideline to expand and upgrade commodity consumption during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, and pointed responses to recent trade remarks and actions from the European Union, the United States and France.
Bilateral Milestones: MOUs Signed with Kyrgyzstan and Egypt
Huang opened the conference by reporting that on August 31, President Xi Jinping and Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov reached a series of important consensuses on deepening practical cooperation across all fields, charting a new blueprint for comprehensive, high-quality development of China–Kyrgyzstan economic and trade relations. During the visit, MOFCOM and the Kyrgyz side signed a joint statement on progress in negotiations on a trade in services and investment agreement, as well as a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on e-commerce cooperation, providing institutional guarantees for raising the level of bilateral services trade and investment cooperation and promoting new forms of cooperation such as e-commerce.
On September 2, President Xi and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi held talks that yielded broad consensus on deepening bilateral ties and expanding practical cooperation. Witnessed by the two heads of state, MOFCOM and the Egyptian authorities signed two MOUs — one on strengthening industrial and supply chain economic cooperation, and another on deepening development cooperation for the Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone. The two sides committed to building a more resilient supply-chain partnership and unlocking the potential of cooperation parks to drive investment and trade, thereby elevating China–Egypt economic and trade cooperation to a higher level.
Consumption Upgrade: 20 Measures to Expand Commodity Demand
Turning to domestic policy, Huang highlighted the recently issued Opinions on Promoting the Expansion and Upgrade of Commodity Consumption, jointly published by MOFCOM and relevant departments. The document sets out the guiding principles, basic tenets and overall targets for commodity consumption during the 15th Five-Year Plan period and proposes 20 specific measures. Huang said the measures are characterized by three features: a commitment to supply-demand coordination, targeted policies by product category, and a focus on key consumer groups.
On the supply side, the ministry will strengthen technological R&D, refine standards systems, enhance brand building and enrich the supply of high-quality products. On the demand side, it will remove unreasonable restrictive measures in automobile circulation and consumption, leverage interest subsidy policies for personal consumption loans, and enrich financial product services — all aimed at sustaining the expansion of commodity consumption demand.
Huang emphasized that different categories of goods are at different stages of development and require precise, category-specific policies. For big-ticket durable goods such as automobiles, home furnishings and household appliances, efforts will focus on smoothing the entire consumption chain and improving supporting services. For daily necessities such as food and beverages, textiles and apparel, and sports and entertainment products, the emphasis will be on quality improvement, diversified adaptation and safety assurance. The plan also prioritizes cultivating and expanding green, smart and healthy consumption to better meet the demand for consumption upgrading.
Pushback on U.S.: “Economic Imbalance” Rhetoric Is Protectionism
Responding to recent remarks by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who claimed that China’s export surge is unsustainable and suggested that the G20 should reexamine trade terms with China, Huang stated firmly that using multilateral mechanisms such as the G20 to hype up so-called “economic imbalance” and “overcapacity” narratives is, in essence, practicing protectionism and concocting pretexts for pressuring and restricting China — something China firmly opposes.
“The development of international trade is the result of global division of labor and cooperation, and its essence is mutual benefit and win-win,” Huang said. She noted that the growth of China’s exports stems from economies of scale and enhanced innovation capacity, as well as from global demand for green transition and industrialization. “The continued development of China’s foreign trade benefits all parties,” she added.
Huang reiterated that capacity issues are normal phenomena accompanying industrial iteration, market fluctuations and evolving division of labor in the course of world economic development, and should be viewed comprehensively, objectively and impartially from the perspective of economic laws. Such rhetoric only disrupts the global economic and trade order and harms the healthy development of the global economy. All countries should uphold multilateralism, strengthen policy communication and coordination, expand open cooperation, and jointly safeguard stable and unimpeded global supply chains to achieve mutual benefit and win-win outcomes.
Message to EU: Consultations Cannot Be One-Sided Ultimatums
Addressing comments by European Commission Executive Vice-President for Trade and Economic Security Maroš Šefčovič — who suggested that the EU would consider fully deploying trade defense tools and closing its market if negotiations with China fail — Huang said that resolving each other’s concerns through dialogue and consultation is an important consensus reached by Chinese and European leaders.
Huang recalled that since the inaugural meeting of the China-EU Trade and Investment Consultation Mechanism on June 29, MOFCOM has maintained close communication with the European side at various levels. From August 31 to September 2, Vice Minister Ling Ji held in-depth, candid and constructive talks with Deputy Director-General Luisa Recart of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Trade and Security, guiding both teams through multiple rounds of professional consultations.
“What China wants to emphasize is that China-EU consultations at all levels should adhere to the positioning of a stable and balanced key trade partnership, insist on resolving each other’s concerns on an equal footing, and must not unilaterally impose demands or conditions, let alone routinely threaten to close markets,” Huang said. She added that the EU should face up to its own economic and trade problems, and that China is not the root cause of those problems but rather a partner that can help solve them.
France’s “Anti-Ultra-Fast Fashion” Law Draws Fire
On the French “anti-ultra-fast fashion” law that recently entered into force, Huang said China had previously made clear its position: under the guise of so-called “environmental” and “sustainable” standards, the law adopts double standards and is suspected of violating the WTO’s non-discrimination principle. MOFCOM urges the French side to immediately halt implementation of the law and resolve differences in sustainable textile trade through equal dialogue, creating a fair, non-discriminatory market environment for Chinese-funded enterprises.
Demand to Lift U.S. Sanctions on Chinese Entities
Huang also responded to the U.S. imposition of sanctions on Chinese companies and citizens on Iran-related grounds, expressing strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition. “China has repeatedly stated that it firmly opposes unilateral sanctions without a basis in international law and without UN Security Council authorization,” she said, noting that U.S. unilateral sanctions improperly interfere with normal economic and trade exchanges between relevant countries and seriously disrupt global energy security and stable supply.
MOFCOM urges the U.S. to immediately correct its erroneous practices and revoke the sanctions on the relevant Chinese companies and citizens, and will resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies and citizens.
Outlook
Taken together, the September 3 briefing crystallized MOFCOM’s twin-track posture: actively deepening economic and trade cooperation with partner countries — most visibly through the day’s freshly signed MOUs with Kyrgyzstan and Egypt — while drawing clear red lines against what it sees as protectionist pressure from major advanced economies. Domestically, the 20-measure consumption-expansion guideline signals that sustaining growth during the 15th Five-Year Plan will rely as much on unleashing consumer demand and supplying high-quality goods as on traditional investment and export engines.