China to support foreign trade enterprises exploring domestic market: spokeswoman

China will support its foreign trade enterprises to explore the domestic market amid rising global economic uncertainty, with China's Ministry of Commerce promising measures to integrate foreign and domestic trade, a spokeswoman from the ministry said on Thursday.

He Yongqian, the ministry spokeswoman, briefed journalists at a regular press conference about the measures aimed at helping oreign trade companies to expand in the global and domestic markets.

"China's vast domestic market serves as a strong backing for Chinese foreign trade enterprises. While helping businesses explore diversified international markets, the Ministry of Commerce will introduce multiple measures to assist them in leveraging the domestic market to respond to external challenges," said He.

The measures aim to bridge gaps between foreign and domestic trade, and facilitate regulatory compliance.

"A key initiative this year is to work on the 'China Tour for High-Quality Foreign Trade Products', a specialized platform for foreign trade companies to expand their domestic sales. We will also encourage China's ten most developed provinces to play their part, hosting exhibitions, trade fairs, and matchmaking events to help foreign trade companies tap into domestic sales channels," said He.

"Efforts will be made to align domestic and international standards and certifications. We will cooperate with relevant authorities to investigate the aligning of foreign trade standards and certifications, as well as initiate comparison work between domestic and international standards to enhance consistency. In compliance with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, we will organize and optimize current funding resources, support enterprises to expand markets, and ensure the implementation of trade insurance policies applicable for domestic trade," said He.

The ministry also said it will provide foreign trade companies one-stop services to address their needs.

"Given that foreign trade enterprises lack familiarity with the domestic market, we will foster and optimize the integrated public service platform for domestic and foreign trades and comprehensive service providers, and offer one-stop support covering policy consultation, standards certification, market expansion, finance, and insurance to help the companies to expand domestic sales," said He.

China to support foreign trade enterprises exploring domestic market: spokeswoman

Global markets plunged on Thursday as uncertainty over U.S. trade policy, inflation risks, and slowing economic growth fueled a sharp sell-off in growth stocks.

U.S. stocks closed lower on Thursday as the market refocused on the uncertainty surrounding the Trump administration's tariff policies and the potential risks of rising inflation combined with slowing growth.

Investors sold off high-growth stocks and rotated into defensive sectors like utilities. The tech-heavy sector and chip stocks experienced widespread declines, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index falling 0.72 percent. Shares of FedEx, considered a bellwether for the U.S. economy, dropped more than 5 percent in after-hours trading after the company lowered its full-year earnings guidance.

In Europe, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde warned that changes in U.S. trade policy could drag down Eurozone economic growth. Lagarde said that if the U.S. imposed a 25 percent tariff on goods imported from Europe, Eurozone economic growth could decline by approximately 0.3 percentage points in the first year. This decline could widen to approximately 0.5 percentage points if the EU retaliated with tariffs on U.S. goods.

European markets also closed lower on Thursday, with defense stocks falling broadly as investors continued to "buy the rumor, sell the fact" regarding Germany's large fiscal spending plan. The three major European indices all finished the day in negative territory.

In the international oil market, crude oil futures rose on Thursday. Contributing to this was that the U.S. government introduced new sanctions related to Iran. Also on the same day, seven oil-producing countries within OPEC+ pledged to increase their production cuts in the short term, due to prior overproduction. The total combined production cut will range from 189,000 to 435,000 barrels per day. These factors are expected to lead to a tightening of international oil supply in the short term.

Gold prices edged slightly higher on Thursday, reaching another record closing high. Investors continued to buy gold as a safe-haven asset, driven by concerns about economic uncertainty expressed by the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, and the European Central Bank. However, the continued rebound of the U.S. dollar index limited the gains in gold prices.

USA, EU stocks tumble amid trade uncertainty, inflation concerns