Research On The Impact Of The Establishment Of Pilot Free Trade Zone On China’s Export Trade

Under the background of complex and changeable international market and fierce international competition,our country proposes the strategy of pilot free trade zone,in order to promote the high-quality development of foreign trade in the region.In terms of export trade,the pilot free trade zone has greatly promoted the development of export trade within the region by virtue of its institutional advantages and good business environment.However,the external environment for the development of China’s export trade still faces severe challenges.Adverse factors such as prevailing unilateralism,rising trade protectionism and the impact of the pandemic on the global economy still exist.Therefore,a comprehensive analysis of the influence of the establishment of pilot free trade zones on China’s export trade will not only contribute to the formulation of foreign trade policy in the construction process of the future pilot free trade zone,but also contribute to deepening the structural reform of the pilot free trade zone and promote the high-quality development of export trade.Based on the above background,this thesis adopts the method of combining theory and demonstration to comprehensively analyze the impact of setting up free trade zones on our country’s export trade.First of all,it provides practical experience for the conclusion of theoretical inference by comparing the development status of Chinese export trade and the changes of export trade between cities in free trade experimental zone and those in non-free trade experimental zone.Secondly,in the part of mechanism analysis,this thesis summarizes and deduces that the establishment of pilot trade zones can promote the development of export trade to the direction of high quality through three ways: Trade liberalization,increasing industrial agglomeration and innovation-driven.Finally,in the empirical test part,this thesis takes the establishment of pilot free trade zones as a natural experiment,adopts the multi-period DID evaluation method,takes 281 prefecture-level cities in China from 2007 to 2019 as research samples,and comprehensively evaluates the influence of the establishment of pilot free trade zones on China’s export trade from three dimensions: export scale,export structure and export quality.Based on the above analysis,this thesis draws the following conclusions: First,as a strategic highland of China’s opening up to the outside world,the establishment of pilot free trade zones can significantly promote the expansion of the export scale of cities in the region,the optimization of export structure and the improvement of export quality,and contribute to the export trade of cities in pilot free trade zones to develop in the direction of high quality.Secondly,the establishment of pilot free trade zones has promoted the development of export trade in pilot free trade zones through such mechanisms as the Trade liberalization,industrial agglomeration and innovation level.Thirdly,through the heterogeneity analysis of different pilot free trade zones,the results show that there are certain differences in the export trade development of coastal and inland pilot free trade zones in different dimensions,and the development of export trade of different regional pilot free trade zones needs long-term planning and construction,and actively developing the export trade potential of inland pilot free trade zones is a key goal of the future construction of pilot free trade zones.Moreover,there is linkage effect between the planned cities of pilot free trade zone and the key cities of One Belt and One Road,and they can form complementary advantages to promote the high-quality development of Chinese export trade.Combined with the current development status of Chinese export trade and the development plan of pilot free trade zones,this thesis holds that the establishment of pilot free trade zones is of great significance to the high-level development of Chinese export trade.The construction of pilot free trade zones not only meets the development requirements of opening up to the outside world in the new era,but also confirms that the pilot free trade zones have a prospect of sustainable development and great potential in promoting the development of export trade.In view of how to better serve our country’s export trade development,this thesis puts forward the following policy suggestions.First,further improve the level of trade facilitation in the pilot free trade zone and increase the promotion of the pilot free trade zone system.Secondly,vigorously develop the export trade potential of cities in China’s inland pilot free trade zones,and strengthen the linkage development between their respective pilot trade zones.Third,further deepen the characteristic strategic layout of the pilot free trade zone,and focus on the long-term development benefits of the pilot free trade zone.Fourth,promote the coordinated development of industries in the pilot free trade zone on the basis of expanding openness,and enhance the innovation level in the pilot free trade zone.