Recently, the State Council held a promotion meeting on strengthening the domestic great cycle, proposing that "we must tap deep into potential to boost consumption". At a regular press conference on May 22, He Yongqian, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), stated that MOFCOM will earnestly implement the guiding principles of the relevant meeting, focus on accelerating progress, strengthen capacity upgrading, and base its work on practical effectiveness. It will better leverage consumption's driving role in economic circulation, strengthen the domestic great cycle, unswervingly expand high-level opening-up, and address various uncertainties with the certainty of high-quality development.

First, accelerate the implementation of special actions to boost consumption and continuously enhance the endogenous driving force of the domestic great cycle. We will upgrade commodity consumption by carrying out trade-in programs for consumer goods, launching pilot reforms for automobile circulation and consumption, and leveraging platforms such as the China International Import Expo (CIIE) and the China International Consumer Products Expo (Hainan Expo) to boost consumption. We will expand service consumption by steadily advancing the comprehensive pilot demonstration for the expanded opening-up of the service sector under the principle of "opening wider to the outside world and relaxing market access domestically", thoroughly implementing actions to upgrade service consumption and benefit the people, and expanding the diversified supply of health, elderly care, childcare, domestic services and other services. We will foster new forms of consumption by advancing the economy of new product launches in light of local conditions, promoting health consumption, and developing digital and green consumption. We will innovate consumption scenarios by further advancing the construction of international consumption center cities and organizing a series of "Shop in China" events; we will fully implement the optimized tax refund policy for departing tourists and steadily expand inbound consumption.

Second, accelerate the improvement of the modern commercial circulation system and continuously consolidate the foundation for the development of the domestic great cycle. We will encourage the upgrading of circulation facilities and expand the scope of pilot cities for commercial circulation. We will gradually build an urban commercial pattern led by model pedestrian streets or business districts, supported by characteristic commercial blocks, and based on 15-minute convenient living circles, push for the quality improvement and efficiency enhancement of county-level commerce, and encourage the transformation and upgrading of the wholesale and retail industries. We will speed up the development of digital and intelligent supply chains, improve the upstream and downstream coordination capacity of commercial circulation enterprises, promote the standardized development of commercial logistics, and support the recycling of renewable resources and the circulation of second-hand goods. We will advance the high-quality development of e-commerce by implementing actions to foster high-quality e-commerce platforms, developing e-commerce platforms for characteristic industries, organizing special matching events for industrial e-commerce, and fostering a sound e-commerce ecosystem.

Third, accelerate the integration of domestic and foreign trade and support enterprises in effectively responding to external shocks. We will actively help foreign trade enterprises explore the domestic market and effectively deliver the benefits of various policies to a broader range of foreign trade enterprises. We will organize the "Chinese Tour of High-quality Foreign Trade Products" event, facilitate procurement matching between industry associations, supermarkets, e-commerce platforms and foreign trade enterprises, and encourage more foreign trade enterprises engaged in automobiles, home appliances, home decoration and other sectors to participate in trade-in programs. We will further advance the pilot program for the integration of domestic and foreign trade, enhance enterprises' capacity to operate in both markets, and help them better cope with external risks and challenges.

Regarding the trade-in programs for consumer goods, He Yongqian noted that according to statistics from relevant departments, retail sales of home appliances maintained double-digit growth for eight consecutive months from September 2024 to April 2025. In April, retail sales of household electric appliances and audio-visual equipment by above-quota enterprises rose by 38.8% year-on-year, ranking first among the growth rates of 16 major categories of consumer goods.