Stronger ties in customs key to APEC trade

China will work with other Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation economies to better align customs rules on cross-border e-commerce, green trade and digital trade to improve regional connectivity and trade facilitation, the country's top customs official said on Thursday.

Speaking at the 2026 APEC Customs Business Dialogue during the ongoing third APEC Senior Officials' Meeting, which runs from Monday through Aug 28 in Dalian, Liaoning province, Sun Meijun, minister of the General Administration of Customs, called on APEC economies to strengthen infrastructure connectivity through the joint development of smart ports and greater sharing of experience in developing green ports and low-carbon logistics.

"Closer cooperation is also needed on technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data to make customs supervision smarter, more targeted and more efficient," she said.

According to customs data, China's trade with other APEC economies reached 18.03 trillion yuan ($2.68 trillion) in the first seven months of 2026, up 21 percent year-on-year and outpacing the country's overall goods trade growth during the same period.

As businesses face increasingly complex supply chains, rapid technological changes and growing uncertainty in the global trading environment, Eduardo Pedrosa, executive director of the Singapore-based APEC Secretariat, said customs authorities in the APEC region must evolve beyond their traditional role as regulators and become strategic partners in supporting economic growth.

Pedrosa said resilient and efficient supply chains have also become increasingly important to economic security and prosperity, as the predictable movement of goods across borders directly affects food security, industrial production and livelihoods.

Echoing that view, Yu-Kyoung Oh, South Korea's minister of food and drug safety, said closer cooperation among customs authorities, businesses and regulatory agencies can make cross-border trade safer and more efficient and help build greater trust among APEC economies.

Francesco Urzua, undersecretary at Chile's Ministry of Agriculture, said trade facilitation increasingly requires smarter customs systems that use digital technologies to simplify procedures, strengthen risk management and provide businesses with greater certainty.

"AI and digital transformation are practical tools for making cross-border trade more efficient, secure and predictable," said Urzua, adding that Chile is advancing digital solutions to improve traceability and information exchange.

Business leaders said APEC economies remain a key engine of global economic growth, with policy decisions made across the region having a significant impact on the direction of global trade.

Raj Subramaniam, president and CEO of United States-based logistics company FedEx Corp, said global trade is entering an era of "re-globalization", as companies rewire supply chains to make them more resilient and diversified amid rapid shifts in trade flows.

Subramaniam, who is also chair emeritus of the US-China Business Council, said seamless and modernized customs procedures are essential to ensuring goods can cross borders with speed and certainty. Such an approach would help protect markets while ensuring that small and medium-sized businesses retain access to global supply chains and customers.

For Chinese companies, closer trade links with APEC economies are also creating new business opportunities.

Wang Zhanjun, president of Shenyang Southern Airline Import and Export Trading Co in Shenyang, Liaoning, said his company looks forward to exploring more opportunities with other APEC economies to expand its share of the aviation maintenance market.

The company imported 600 million yuan worth of aviation materials from APEC economies, such as Canada and Mexico, between January and July, up 28.3 percent year-on-year, data from Shenyang Customs showed.

Its imports included engine and auxiliary power unit components, airborne avionics equipment and composite-material spare parts.

zhongnan@chinadaily.com.cn