On August 28th, the promotion event of the 2025 China International Fair for Trade in Services kicked off at the Northeast Asia International Expo Center in Changchun. This is a vivid practice of the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) going deep into the hinterland of Northeast China, bringing cutting-edge perspectives and cooperation opportunities in the field of service trade to Changchun and even Northeast Asia. On August 26th, the State Council held its 15th thematic study, with a focus on "Accelerating Innovative Development of Service Trade and Actively Cultivating New Momentum for Foreign Trade Development"; On August 27th, the Ministry of Commerce revealed that it will soon work with relevant departments to introduce a series of policy measures to promote service exports and orderly promote the gradient opening of cross-border service trade... In recent times, a series of policy signals to promote the development of the service trade field have been intensively released. Industry insiders believe that with the introduction of specific measures in the future, the support system for innovative development of service trade will continue to improve, and the path for key and comprehensive measures in service exports, digital and intelligent transformation, and institutional openness will become clearer. Currently, with the strengthening of policies to promote service exports, the scale of China's service trade continues to grow. The latest data from the Ministry of Commerce shows that in the first half of the year, China's total import and export of services reached 3.9 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8%, and the scale reached a new historical high for the same period. Among them, service exports amounted to 1.7 trillion yuan, an increase of 15%. The proportion of service exports in total foreign trade exports reached 11.5%, an increase of 0.7 percentage points from the same period last year. Service exports are an important component of foreign trade exports, and their importance in all exports continues to rise. ”Zhao Jinping, Vice President of the China Association for Trade in Services, stated in an interview with China Securities Journal that the driving force of service exports on total export growth has further expanded, and the effectiveness of stabilizing foreign trade has become prominent. Data shows that the rapid growth of China's service exports mainly comes from traditional service trade fields such as transportation and travel. In the first half of the year, transportation service exports reached 418.5 billion yuan, an increase of 23.9%, making it the largest sector in terms of service export scale. In Zhao Jinping's view, currently, the overall scale of China's service exports is relatively small, and the support for high-end service industries is insufficient. The problem of structural development imbalance is still prominent and must be given sufficient attention. We should gradually reduce the scale of the service trade deficit by expanding service exports to maintain a basic balance of international payments, "said Zhao Jinping. Fortunately, policy support to promote service exports will increase. Kong Dejun, Director of the Department of Trade in Services of the Ministry of Commerce, revealed at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on August 27th that the Ministry of Commerce and relevant departments have jointly studied and formulated the "Several Policy Measures to Promote Service Exports". The relevant documents will be publicly issued in the near future, and a new batch of policy measures will be introduced from the aspects of finance, taxation, regulatory facilitation, and international market development to increase efforts to promote service exports. Cultivating new business models and promoting innovative development of service trade is an important measure to cultivate new drivers of foreign trade and accelerate the construction of a strong trading nation. Experts believe that accelerating the cultivation and development of new formats and models such as digital service trade and "artificial intelligence+service trade" is the key to promoting innovative development of China's service trade. In recent years, with the breakthrough progress of big model technology, the application of artificial intelligence in various industries has become increasingly widespread. From the perspective of trade in services, policy support is constantly advancing. On August 26th, the State Council issued the "Opinions on Deepening the Implementation of the" Artificial Intelligence+"Action", proposing to innovate new models for the development of the service industry. Accelerate the evolution of the service industry from digital enabled Internet services to intelligent driven new service modes, expand the business scope, and promote the modern service industry to develop intellectually. This has created a favorable policy environment for promoting the development of 'artificial intelligence+service trade'. ”Liu Xiangdong, Deputy Director of the Research and Information Department of the China International Economic Exchange Center, told reporters. As a new form of service trade, digital service trade is an important engine for the innovative development of China's service trade. Li Jun, Director of the Institute of International Trade in Services at the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, stated in an interview with reporters that the development of digital service trade should be led by cross-border e-commerce, and continue to promote the digital and intelligent transformation of trade marketing, trade facilities, trade documents, trade settlement, and other aspects. Focusing on the export of new digital services, accelerate the improvement of digital technology driven trade levels such as software and information services, artificial intelligence, and big data. Song Siyuan, Associate Researcher at the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, believes that in the fields of digital technology and service trade, artificial intelligence will significantly enhance the personalized and intelligent supply capabilities of digital services, and effectively empower the intelligent development of digital trade, affecting the technological foundation and service models of global digital trade, bringing new opportunities and changes to industrial development. Promoting the gradient opening up of cross-border service trade is the core driving force for the development of service trade. The 15th special study session of the State Council proposed to promote the institutional opening of service trade, strengthen the integration with international high standard economic and trade rules, further reduce the negative list of cross-border service trade, and orderly relax market access in the service sector. In March last year, the Ministry of Commerce issued the "Special Management Measures for Cross border Service Trade (Negative List)" (2024 version) and the "Special Management Measures for Cross border Service Trade in Pilot Free Trade Zones (Negative List)" (2024 version), establishing a negative list management system and gradient opening system for cross-border service trade nationwide. At present, the Ministry of Commerce is continuously tracking the implementation of the negative list for cross-border service trade, working with relevant departments and localities to promptly resolve any bottlenecks encountered during the implementation of the list, and continuing to do a good job in the implementation of the negative list. ”Kong Dejun said that in the future, we will align with international high standard economic and trade rules, orderly promote the gradient opening of cross-border service trade, and continuously improve the level of service trade liberalization and facilitation. Li Jun believes that in response to the negative list of cross-border service trade, it is timely to "reduce orders and tables". Continue to actively connect with international high standard economic and trade rules, and promote the compatibility of rules, regulations, management, and standards in the field of service trade. At the same time, we should leverage the advantages of manufacturing and promote the integrated development of service trade and goods trade. Innovate and develop green technology trade, and continue to play the role of major exhibition platforms such as the China International Fair for Trade in Services. Build a good service trade international cooperation park and continuously optimize the open cooperation environment. Song Siyuan stated that looking ahead, by implementing higher-level opening-up, deepening institutional innovation, accelerating industrial digitization and green transformation, China's service trade is expected to maintain growth momentum and occupy a more important position in the global trade pattern, providing strong support for the high-quality development of China's foreign trade. (New Society)