Foreign trade, also known as "foreign trade" or "import and export trade", refers to the exchange of goods and services between a country (region) and another country (region). This trade consists of two parts: import and export. For countries (regions) that import goods or services, it is import; For countries (regions) that ship goods or services, it is export. This began to emerge and develop in slave society and feudal society, and developed more rapidly in capitalist society. Its nature and function are determined by different social systems.

Reciprocal trade: A trade in which a seller undertakes to buy goods or services of equal value from a buyer

Exhibition trade: An international fair or fair held in the country for a period of time to conduct import and export transactions

Processing trade: usually referred to as "three trade", including incoming processing trade, incoming assembly trade, incoming sample processing trade, also known as processing trade.

Compensation trade: import machinery, equipment and technology from abroad in the form of credit purchase, and repay the principal and interest of the purchase price with the products and services produced after production. (The combination of compensation trade and processing trade is often referred to as "three to one supplement".)

Before the reform and opening up, China's foreign trade practiced mandatory planning management and unified state responsibility for profits and losses. Since the reform and opening up, China's foreign trade system has undergone a transformation from mandatory planning management to giving play to the basic role of the market mechanism, from highly monopolized management rights to full liberalization, and from enterprises eating the "big pot rice" of the state to independent management and self-responsibility for profits and losses. In the early stage of reform and opening up, the reform of China's foreign trade system mainly consisted of reforming the single-plan management system, delegating foreign trade management power and management right, implementing the foreign exchange retention system and establishing the foreign exchange adjustment market. The absorption of foreign direct investment enables foreign-invested enterprises to enter the field of foreign trade as new business entities, and breaks the monopoly of state-owned foreign trade enterprises. Since then, China has implemented a contract system for foreign trade operations, gradually replacing the mandatory plan with a guiding plan. An export tax rebate system has been established in accordance with the general rules of international trade. In October 1992, China clearly set out the reform goal of establishing a socialist market economy. In January 1994, the Chinese government abolished all financial subsidies for exports, and import and export enterprises became fully self-financing. The official RMB exchange rate should be aligned with the market-adjusted exchange rate, and a single, managed floating exchange rate system based on market supply and demand should be implemented. In the field of foreign trade operations, trials were carried out on the demutualization of enterprises and the import and export agency system. In the same year, the Foreign Trade Law of the People's Republic of China was officially promulgated and implemented, establishing the principles of maintaining a fair and free foreign trade order and laying down the basic legal system for foreign trade. In December 1996, China realized the convertibility of RMB under the current account. At the same time, China has repeatedly and significantly reduced tariffs and non-tariff measures such as quotas and licenses. On December 11, 2001, after 16 years of negotiations, China became the 143rd member of the World Trade Organization.