Chinese e-commerce giants are beefing up efforts to help the nation's exporters to pivot to the domestic market, as the US government is levying tariffs against its trading partners.On Thursday, Chinese tech company Tencent announced a 10-point initiative to support exporters in exploring the domestic market. The plan features streamlined store registration processes, incentives for new merchants and tools designed to accelerate digital transformation.Tencent estimates that these measures—leveraging Weixin Mini Programs, Mini Shops, and the digitalization of brick-and-mortar stores and related commercial ecosystems—could generate approximately 100 billion yuan ($13.6 billion) in sales.Specifically, Mini Shops will facilitate rapid store setup for newly registered foreign trade merchants, enabling businesses to obtain operational licenses with minimal approval time. Weixin Pay will provide a fast-track for the merchants entering the Weixin ecosystem, ensuring that eligible businesses can activate payment services on the same day.Alibaba Group's e-commerce platforms Taobao and Tmall on Tuesday launched a similar project targeting at least 10,000 foreign trade merchants and 100,000 foreign trade sources, and they plan to take measures such as offering quick entry, commission incentive support and help for those exporters to enter the domestic market.The moves came as the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said on Friday that it is stepping up efforts to promote the integration of domestic and foreign commerce, assisting foreign trade enterprises in expanding sales.It will guide industry associations, key supermarkets and e-commerce platforms to leverage their market, channel and brand advantages, collaborating with foreign trade enterprises to overcome challenges together, the MOFCOM said.Releasing domestic demand and expanding the domestic market can alleviate the pressure caused by the US' steep tariffs, Li Chang'an, a professor at the Academy of China Open Economy Studies at the University of International Business and Economics, told the Global Times on Thursday.Chinese consumers could enjoy more choices and exporters could have a fast way to digest backlogs of goods caused by the obstruction of foreign trade in the short term, Li noted.Zhang Yi, CEO of the iiMedia Research Institute, said that measures taken by e-commerce giants are providing timely and effective support for Chinese foreign trade enterprises.Also, China's leading trade and retail associations are working with major companies to support export-focused businesses in expanding into the home market.In a joint initiative announced by the China Chain-Store &Franchise Association and seven other industry associations on April 11, it said that it has become an urgent task to expand the home market, and promote the coordinated development of domestic and foreign trade, as the US government has weaponized tariffs as a tool of maximum pressure, which has seriously disrupted the global economic order.In one export-driven province -- East China's Zhejiang Province -- local departments said on Thursday that they will support high-quality foreign trade enterprises to open global brand flagship stores and on-site experience stores.The China Sporting Goods Federation said it has launched a global market inspection to promote Chinese-made sporting brands to go overseas."After industry research, we found that in recent years, Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia have become important markets for sporting goods and enterprises to expand overseas due to their relatively large population base, young sports consumer groups and growing sports consumption demand," it said.China's total merchandise trade in yuan-denominated terms expanded by 1.3 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, demonstrating stable growth and strong resilience despite external headwinds, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said on Monday. (ICE SHANGHAI)

Fonte notizia: Global Times