Explainer | China’s Ministry of Commerce: what is Mofcom and what is it responsible for?
- China’s Ministry of Commerce (Mofcom) was established in March 2003 and is responsible for trade negotiations and the relationship with the World Trade Organization (WTO)
- As a cabinet-level executive agency under the State Council, Mofcom has 29 departments overseen by minister Wang Wentao
What is Mofcom?
China’s Ministry of Commerce (Mofcom) was established in March 2003 as part of an all-around institutional reorganisation conducted by the State Council, the country’s top administrative body.
Mofcom was largely based on the former Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation, while also incorporating the functions of the State Economic and Trade Commission and the State Development Planning Commission.
The changes ended more than five decades of separation between the domestic and foreign trade governance after the original Ministry of Trade – which was established in 1949 – was renamed the Ministry of Foreign Trade in 1952.
As part of its commitments to the WTO, China agreed that all domestic and foreign companies would be granted the right to trade within three years, meaning foreign trade was no longer a privilege.
As a cabinet-level executive agency under the State Council, Mofcom has 29 departments under current Commerce Minister Wang Wentao.
