China’s new global playbook —from exporter to investor

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With US President Donald Trump this year intensifying US influence over Venezuela, Iran and Greenland, one of the immediate concerns on the Chinese side is its impact on Venezuela, Iran and Greenland. Local investments.

Speaking in Davos on Tuesday, Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng urged world leaders to provide a fair and predictable environment for Chinese companies operating abroad.

There are significant investments in factories and technology at stake. While China’s trade surplus swelled to Record $1.2 trillion In 2025, Beijing’s deals and contracts with… Countries associated with the Belt and Road initiative It rose to new highs. Latin America, the Middle East and Africa are key regions for the initiative, which is widely seen as a channel for China to build its global influence.

Looking ahead to 2026, the Financial Times FDI Intelligence Survey forecasts China will be the largest exporter of foreign direct investment in 2026, ahead of the United Arab Emirates and then India. The United States tied with Saudi Arabia in fourth place.

The composition of this investment is also changing. more Chinese investments abroad They are in Technology and manufacturingThis is partly because tariffs are pushing Chinese electric vehicle companies to localize their production abroad.

Global companies and leaders are also curious to see how technology develops in China.

Over the past six months, Beijing-based autonomous delivery vehicle company Neolex has begun receiving global visitors, including logistics companies and the French Ministry of Transport, Will Zhao, Neolex’s chief executive, told me last week.

“2025 was the year we started making this kind of connection with potential global partners,” he said, noting that those partners include consultants or lawyers who work with local authorities in regulating autonomous vehicles.

“A lot of countries are looking to our investments in manufacturing,” Zhao noted.

Newlex Obtained an operating license in the United Arab Emirates Late last year, it announced a strategic alliance with A Portuguese Mobility Company Earlier this month. Zhao said the company plans to deploy more than 10,000 self-driving delivery vehicles outside China this year and enter three new countries, ideally in Europe.

Intra-Asia trade is a “key theme” for next year, global investment firm KKR said in its 2026 report. Overall expectations. “For us at KKR, this is a scalable, secular trend with real investment potential spanning logistics, manufacturing, consumer markets and digital enablement.”

KKR said China has increased its market share not only through exports, but by building local operations in countries such as Vietnam.

“One emerging benefit for the region includes the increasing frequency of countries transacting in the renminbi, a trend that has gained momentum post-Covid,” the report said.

This trend had been rising even before Trump’s latest round of global tariffs.

In 2024, 60% of Asian trade is already carried out within the region, and KKR expects subsequent growth of 8% in the next few years. A key factor is that more than 800 million millennials in the region are about to reach the age where they will spend more, the report said.

Underscoring the shift in global trade, Southeast Asia has become Beijing’s largest trading partner and helped push China’s global exports to grow by 5.5% last year, despite restrictions on trade. 20% decrease In shipments to the United States due to the trade war.

US logistics giant FedEx is also navigating what its CEO Raj Subramaniam calls “Re-globalisation“, according to his recent interview with the New York Times.

Over the past six months, FedEx has opened facilities in Istanbul, Bangalore and Dublin, Subramaniam said. “We have made various moves throughout Asia. New platform in Osaka.”

Such decisions do not come easily in a world rocked by tensions between the United States and China. Subramaniam is too Chairman of the US-China Business CouncilWho meets regularly with Chinese policymakers.

Global trade is transforming It also has influence within China.

In a presentation to reporters last week, Cui Shujun, a professor at the School of International Studies at Renmin University of China, noted that companies are hiring more foreign relations graduates — who just 10 years ago were mostly headed to government jobs.

If trade tensions are here to stay, Chinese companies are using human talent and expanding factories to adapt.

Hong Kong Hang Seng Index It rose more than 0.3%, bringing its gains since the beginning of the year to 3.7%.

Mainland China’s CSI 300 index closed nearly flat, up 0.09%, and is up 2.01% for the year.