He Yongqian: Friends from the press, good afternoon. Welcome to the regular press conference of the Ministry of Commerce. I have no briefing to make today.

The floor is open to questions.

The Cover: In the recent Spring Festival holiday, various forms of consumption promotion activities were carried out across the country. Major business districts were booming, indicating strong vitality of domestic consumption. How is the situation of the Spring Festival consumer market? Are there any bright spots? What is the forecast for the consumer market in the first quarter?

He Yongqian: During this year's Spring Festival holiday, China’s consumer market featured strong festivities, popularity, and impressive sales performance. Consumption of both goods and services were full of vitality. New consumption scenarios were created. According to MOFCOM monitoring data, sales of key retail and catering enterprises during the holiday increased by 4.1% over the same period last year. Consumer market was off to a good start, and showed the following features.

First, rich activities. To create a strong festive atmosphere and stimulate holiday consumption,  local business departments held various forms of consumption promotion activities, such as Spring Festival fairs, online New Year shopping festivals, and time-honored brands carnivals. Heilongjiang provinced used the opportunity of holding the Asian Winter Games to organize a series of related consumption promotion activities. Sichuan province mobilized hundreds of business districts to jointly hold Spring Festival celebrations for a month to meet the diversified consumer needs.

Second, strong goods consumption. During the festival, food, goods related to New Year customs, green and smart home appliances, mobile phones, and tablets sold well. The sales of home appliances and communication equipment of key retail enterprises increased by more than 10 percent year-on-year.

Third, vibrant service consumption. During the holiday season, the demand for services such as party, traveling, movies and TV series was strong. The turnover of catering enterprises increased by 6.2 percent year on year. Ice and snow tourism and cultural tourism remained popular. During the Chinese New Year, domestic travel spending reached 677 billion yuan, up 7.0 percent year on year. 500 million trips were made at home, up 5.9 percent year on year. Spring Festival box office hit a record high of 9.51 billion yuan.

Fourth, new consumption scenarios were created. The integration of business, travel and sports is accelerating, and digital, immersive and interactive consumption scenarios are popular. Chongqing lit up the banks of Yangtze River and Jialing River on New Year’s eve, and launched flash mobs at the Spring Festival Gala venue and snapshot with mascots activities. Jiangxi invited inheritors of intangible heritage to live stream for related products. In Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, a humanoid robot was introduced to the Wuzhen water town, where visitors shook hands with it and took photos to celebrate a high-tech New Year.

In the coming months, China's consumer market will maintain strong resilience, great potential and vitality. Consumption remains on an upward trajectory. With the expansion of the policy of consumer goods trade-in and the roll out of consumption promotion activities, the overall consumer market will maintain steady growth in the first quarter. Thank you.

21st Century Business Herald: We noted that China has recently announced export controls on tungsten and other items, and added PVH Group and Illumina to the Unreliable Entity List. Can you give us more details?

He Yongqian: On February 4, the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs issued a notice to impose export control on 25 rare metal products in five categories and related technologies: tungsten, tellurium, bismuth, molybdenum and indium. On the same day, the Unreliable Entity List working mechanism issued a notice that put PVH Group and Illumina on the Unreliable Entity List.

Imposing export control on tungsten and other related items is an international practice. The items listed this time have both military and civilian applications, and downstream products have high risks of military use. This move demonstrates China's consistent commitment to maintaining world peace and regional stability. Enterprises of all countries should strictly abide by China's laws and regulations on export control as well as the relevant provisions of public announcements. The Chinese government will approve application for export license that complies with the relevant regulations.

As for the Unreliable Entity List, the US PVH Group and Illumina have violated normal market trading principles, terminating normal transactions with Chinese companies, and taking discriminatory measures against Chinese companies. China has added these two entities to the UEL in accordance with the law. In the future, China will take corresponding measures against these entities in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.

China has always approached export control and the Unreliable Entity List with prudence. The Chinese government is ready to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with other countries to jointly safeguard the security and stability of global industrial and supply chains. We encourage foreign companies to invest and do business in China, and are committed to providing a stable, fair and predictable business environment for law-abiding foreign companies operating in China. Thank you.

Phoenix TV: U.S. President Trump decided to delay tariffs on Canada and Mexico for an additional 30 days on February 3 in local time. Does the Chinese side have any comment?

He Yongqian: The U.S.’s unilateral tariff hikes severely violate WTO rules. It is vile in nature and a typical practice of unilateralism and trade protectionism, severely undermining the rules-based multilateral trading system, disrupting global industrial and supply chains, and intensifying global trade tensions. China stands ready to work with relevant countries to champion free trade and multilateralism, jointly address challenges of unilateralism and trade protectionism, and protect the orderly and stable development of international trade. Thank you.

CNBC: On February 4, the U.S. announced that it would suspend accepting international inbound mail and packages from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong Posts and reversed its decision a few hours later. What is the reaction from the Chinese side?

He Yongqian: Cross-border e-commerce directly meets consumers’ personalized needs with fast delivery and lower costs. With unique advantages, it represents a significant trend in international trade development. The recent U.S. tariff hikes and adjustments to the de minimis exemptions policy will undoubtedly increase costs for American consumers and degrade their shopping experience.

No matter how trade policies change, cross-border e-commerce maintains its advantages, characteristics and strong competitiveness. The digitalization trend of international trade remains unchanged. We hope the U.S. could follow the development trends of international trade, optimize regulations, create a fair and predictable policy environment for cross-border e-commerce, and provide local consumers with more convenience and consumption choices of better quality and more reasonable prices. Thank you.

Bloomberg: Does MOFCOM have further responses or comments regarding the U.S. tariff hikes on Chinese goods? Has there been any communication between China and the U.S. concerning tariffs in the past week?

He Yongqian: China does not initiate trade disputes. We are willing to resolve issues through dialogue and consultations. We will definitely take necessary measures against unilateral bullying to defend our rights and interests. Thank you.