- On 9 April 2026 the State Council published the Overall Plan for the China (Inner Mongolia) Pilot Free Trade Zone, raising China’s FTZ count to 23 — the first new FTZ of the “15th Five-Year Plan” period.
2026年4月9日，国务院发布《中国（内蒙古）自由贸易试验区总体方案》，使中国自贸试验区总数增至23个——这是”十五五”时期设立的首个自贸试验区。- The Inner Mongolia FTZ spans 119.74 sq km across three zones — Hohhot, Manzhouli and Erenhot — built as a northern gateway linking China with Russia, Mongolia and the China–Mongolia–Russia Economic Corridor.
内蒙古自贸试验区实施范围119.74平方公里，涵盖呼和浩特、满洲里、二连浩特三个片区，定位为联通俄蒙及中蒙俄经济走廊的向北开放重要桥头堡。- The plan sets out 19 reform measures across seven areas — trade nodes, two-way investment, logistics corridors, modern industry, innovation ecosystems, domestic-foreign cooperation and factor mobility — under a “five centres” positioning.
《方案》从打造贸易节点、双向投资、物流通道、现代产业、创新生态、内外合作、要素融通七方面提出19项举措，形成”五个中心”定位。- On 18 December 2025 Hainan Free Trade Port launched island-wide customs closure (全岛封关运作), lifting “zero-tariff” coverage from 21% to 74% of tariff lines — a parallel milestone for China’s open-zone strategy.
2025年12月18日，海南自由贸易港正式启动全岛封关运作，将”零关税”商品税目比例由21%提升至74%，是中国开放区域战略的又一里程碑。- At the 10 April 2026 State Council policy briefing, MOFCOM pledged to fully implement the FTZ upgrade strategy: more institutional-opening trials, new batches of delegated pilot tasks, and wider replication (485 innovations already copied nationwide).
在2026年4月10日国务院政策例行吹风会上，商务部表示将全面实施自贸试验区提升战略——探索更多制度型开放试验、赋予新一批改革试点任务、扩大复制推广（国家层面已累计复制推广485项制度创新成果）。- Foreign investors should map their sector to each zone’s comparative advantage, not its prestige — Inner Mongolia for cross-border logistics and resources, coastal FTZs for manufacturing and services, Hainan for duty-free and offshore trade.
外国投资者应将自身行业与各片区的比较优势匹配，而非只看名气——内蒙古适合跨境物流与资源、沿海自贸区适合制造与服务、海南适合免税与离岸贸易。
China Adds Its 23rd Free Trade Zone: Inner Mongolia and the 2026 FTZ Upgrade Strategy | 中国增设第23个自贸试验区：内蒙古与2026自贸试验区升级战略
Why a 23rd FTZ, and why Inner Mongolia
On 9 April 2026 the State Council released the *Overall Plan for the China (Inner Mongolia) Pilot Free Trade Zone* (hereafter the Plan), and the following day the State Council Information Office held a policy briefing on it. With this, China’s pilot free trade zones (FTZs, 自由贸易试验区) expanded to 23 — the first new FTZ launched in the “15th Five-Year Plan” (2026–2030) period, and a deliberate move to extend institutional opening from the coast deeper into the land border.
The logic is geographic and strategic. Inner Mongolia borders Russia and Mongolia, sits on the China–Mongolia–Russia Economic Corridor, and holds “eight provinces internally, Russia and Mongolia externally” (内联八省、外通俄蒙). As Assistant Minister of Commerce Yuan Xiaoming put it at the 10 April briefing, establishing the zone in the opening year of the 15th Five-Year Plan is a key deployment of the FTZ upgrade strategy and a major step in widening high-level opening. For foreign investors, the significance is that a previously under-served land-border corridor now carries the same policy-testing mandate as the coastal pioneers.
What the Inner Mongolia plan actually contains
The Inner Mongolia FTZ covers 119.74 square kilometres across three zones with clear, differentiated roles: Hohhot (呼和浩特), Manzhouli (满洲里) and Erenhot (二连浩特). The Plan grants greater reform autonomy and encourages first-mover, integrated and differentiated exploration in broader and deeper areas.
Its substance is organised as 19 reform measures in seven domains:
- building important trade nodes that connect domestic and foreign markets;
- raising the quality and efficiency of two-way investment cooperation;
- smoothing the northward international logistics corridor;
- constructing a modern industrial system with local character;
- fostering a first-class science-and-technology innovation ecosystem;
- deepening all-round domestic and external cooperation; and
- creating an open platform for factor integration and mobility.
The stated positioning is to build “five centres” — an information-exchange centre, a transport-logistics centre, a factor-resource allocation centre, a key-field science-and-technology innovation centre and an industry-cooperation centre — radiating across the region. Concretely, the Plan supports Hohhot in developing service outsourcing (IT, pharmaceutical R&D), modernises border-resident mutual-trade platforms, encourages outbound investment in agriculture, livestock and energy resources along the Belt and Road, strengthens international logistics, and builds a “green computing-power guarantee hub” (绿色算力保障枢纽).
The explicit goal is, within three to five years of reform exploration, to become a high-level free trade park with convenient investment and trade, a sound innovation ecosystem, clustered advantaged industries and active international exchange — a “northward opening” strategic highland.
The Hainan parallel: island-wide customs closure
The Inner Mongolia launch should be read alongside the other 2026 landmark in China’s open-zone map: Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP) began island-wide customs closure (全岛封关运作) on 18 December 2025. This was confirmed by the 2026 Hainan Government Work Report and repeatedly restated through 2026. The closure re-engineers Hainan’s interface with the mainland: goods entering from outside China are subject to a “zero-tariff” negative list, while the “second line” to the mainland is tightly managed.
The results, as reported by Hainan authorities through 2026, are striking. From 18 December 2025 to 30 April 2026, “zero-tariff” imports reached RMB 2.26 billion, up 99.6% year-on-year; processing-with-value-add imports for domestic sale reached RMB 510 million, with tariff relief of RMB 24.573 million; and the “zero-tariff” product coverage rose from 21% to 74% of tariff lines (more than 6,600 lines). By 31 May 2026, zero-tariff imports had reached RMB 2.645 billion (up 1.2 times), with tax relief of RMB 440 million (up 74.1%). Over the same post-closure window, Hainan added 141,200 new business entities (up 59.31%), including 11,440 new enterprises (up 118.52%) and 1,016 new foreign-invested enterprises (up 35.47%); goods trade imports and exports reached RMB 137.06 billion (up 49.8%) with more than 220 countries and regions.
For an investor, Hainan and Inner Mongolia are bookends of the same strategy: one an offshore, duty-light gateway; the other a land-border, corridor gateway.
The 2026 FTZ upgrade strategy
Beyond the two new milestones, MOFCOM has set a clear 2026 agenda. At the 10 April briefing, Yuan Xiaoming outlined four pillars of the FTZ upgrade strategy:
- More institutional-opening trials — deeper alignment with high-standard international economic rules, scenario-based and field-level negative lists for cross-border data outflows, and firm implementation of already-issued opening measures in value-added telecoms, biotechnology and wholly foreign-owned hospitals.
- New-quality productive-force leadership — encouraging FTZs to pursue systemic innovation in new technologies, fields and models, and issuing policy files supporting whole-industry-chain integrated innovation in marine economy, equipment manufacturing and shipping logistics.
- Higher radiation of the “test-bed” effect — steadily optimising the layout of mature FTZs, assigning new batches of pilot tasks, and strengthening inter-FTZ coordination.
- Wider replication — having already promoted 485 FTZ institutional-innovation results at the national level, MOFCOM will select and roll out more best-practice cases.
This matters because FTZs punch far above their land footprint: the 23 zones occupy a tiny fraction of national territory yet contribute roughly one-fifth of national foreign investment and import-export value. The upgrade strategy is therefore where the next batch of market-access openings will be piloted first.
Where foreign capital fits
The 2026 context for foreign investors is unusually welcoming on paper. Manufacturing foreign-investment market-access restrictions have been fully eliminated; the 2025 edition of the *Catalogue of Encouraged Industries for Foreign Investment* added a net 205 encouraged items; and services opening is advancing through pilots in value-added telecoms, biotechnology and wholly foreign-owned hospitals. FTZs are explicitly the “test fields” for these openings, and the new Inner Mongolia zone adds a border-corridor vector to the existing coastal and interior network.
Practically, a foreign firm should not treat “FTZ” as a single monolith. The right question is which zone’s comparative advantage matches the business: Inner Mongolia for cross-border logistics, resources and agriculture-processing along the northern corridor; coastal FTZs (Shanghai/Lin-gang, Guangdong, Fujian, Tianjin, etc.) for advanced manufacturing, finance and services; and Hainan for duty-free, offshore trade and tourism-consumption. The policy dividend is real but differentiated.
Practical takeaways
- Track the Inner Mongolia FTZ’s implementing rules as they are issued in 2026 — the Plan is a mandate, but the operational detail (pilot lists, customs procedures, incentives) follows in local decrees.
- If your activity touches cross-border data, value-added telecoms, biotech or foreign-owned hospitals, an FTZ is now the fastest legal pathway — but confirm the specific pilot has been “landed” in your chosen zone.
- For Hainan, model the duty and tax effects of the 74% zero-tariff coverage and the processing-with-value-add regime before committing a supply-chain design.
- Use the FTZ negative list (not only the national one) to test whether a restricted sector is pilot-opened locally.
- Watch MOFCOM’s replication list — a reform proven in one FTZ often becomes nationwide within a year or two.
Risks and caveats
Two cautions temper the optimism. First, a master plan is a mandate, not an operating manual — Inner Mongolia’s concrete incentives, customs procedures and pilot lists arrive in subsequent local decrees through 2026, so commitments should wait for the detailed rules. Second, the FTZ dividend is differentiated: Hainan’s duty edge, Inner Mongolia’s corridor logic and the coastal zones’ manufacturing strengths are not interchangeable. Picking a zone for prestige rather than fit risks paying zone-level compliance cost for none of the tailored benefit. Screen sector-to-zone match before committing capital.
中国增设第23个自贸试验区：内蒙古与2026自贸试验区升级战略
为什么是第23个，为什么是内蒙古
2026年4月9日，国务院发布《中国（内蒙古）自由贸易试验区总体方案》（以下简称《方案》），次日国务院新闻办公室就此举行政策例行吹风会。至此，中国自贸试验区扩围至23个——这是”十五五”时期设立的首个自贸试验区，也是将制度型开放从沿海向陆地边境纵深推进的主动布局。
其逻辑兼具地理与战略考量。内蒙古外接俄蒙、内联八省，位于中蒙俄经济走廊之上。正如商务部部长助理袁晓明在4月10日吹风会上所言，在”十五五”开局之年设立内蒙古自贸试验区，是深入实施自贸试验区提升战略的重要部署，也是扩大高水平对外开放的关键举措。对外国投资者而言，这意味着一条此前服务不足的陆地边境走廊，如今承载了与沿海先行者同等的政策试验使命。
内蒙古《方案》的实质内容
内蒙古自贸试验区实施范围119.74平方公里，涵盖呼和浩特、满洲里、二连浩特三个片区，定位清晰、分工明确。国家赋予更大改革自主权，鼓励在更广领域、更深层次开展首创性、集成式、差别化探索。
《方案》的要点为七方面19项举措：
- 打造联通内外的重要贸易节点；
- 提升双向投资合作质效；
- 畅通向北开放国际大通道；
- 构建具有特色优势的现代化产业体系；
- 营造一流科技创新生态；
- 深化对内对外全方位合作；
- 打造要素融汇融通的开放平台。
其战略定位是建设”五个中心”——信息交流中心、交通物流中心、要素资源配置中心、重点领域科技创新中心和产业合作中心，辐射周边。具体措施上，《方案》支持呼和浩特发展信息技术、医药研发等服务外包，加快边民互市贸易服务平台数字化升级，鼓励在”一带一路”沿线农牧、能源资源领域对外投资，强化国际物流服务功能，并建设”绿色算力保障枢纽”。
其明确目标是：经过三至五年改革探索，建成投资贸易便利、创新生态良好、优势产业集聚、国际交往活跃的高水平自由贸易园区，成为向北开放的战略高地。
海南的对照：全岛封关运作
内蒙古的设立应与中国开放区域版图上另一2026里程碑一同解读：海南自由贸易港于2025年12月18日正式启动全岛封关运作。这在2026年海南省政府工作报告中得到确认，并在2026年持续重申。封关重构了海南与内地的接口：自境外进入的货物按”零关税”负面清单管理，而通往内地的”二线”严密监管。
据海南方面2026年披露，成效显著。2025年12月18日至2026年4月30日，”零关税”进口货值22.6亿元、同比增长99.6%；加工增值免关税内销货值5.1亿元，减免关税2457.3万元；”零关税”商品税目比例由21%提升至74%（超6600个税目）。截至2026年5月31日，零关税进口货物26.45亿元、同比增长1.2倍，减免税款4.4亿元、增长74.1%。同一封关后窗口期，海南新增经营主体14.12万户、增长59.31%，其中新增企业11.44万户、增长118.52%，新增外资企业1016户、增长35.47%；货物贸易进出口1370.6亿元、增长49.8%，与220多个国家和地区实现贸易往来。
对投资者而言，海南与内蒙古是同一战略的两极：一为离岸、低税网关，一为陆地边境、通道网关。
2026自贸试验区提升战略
除两大新里程碑外，商务部已明确2026年议程。在4月10日吹风会上，袁晓明提出自贸试验区提升战略的四大支柱：
- 更多制度型开放试验——深入对接国际高标准经贸规则，制定场景化、字段级数据出境负面清单，抓好增值电信、生物技术、外商独资医院等领域已出台开放举措落地见效。
- 新质生产力引领——鼓励更多自贸试验区聚焦新技术、新领域、新业态、新模式开展系统集成创新，推动出台支持海洋经济、装备制造、航运物流等重点领域全产业链集成创新的政策文件。
- 提升试验田辐射能级——稳步优化成熟自贸试验区区域布局，同步赋予新一批改革试点任务，强化联动合作。
- 扩大复制推广成效——国家层面已累计复制推广485项制度创新成果，下一步将甄选推广一批新的最佳案例。
这一点至关重要，因为自贸试验区以极小国土面积贡献了全国约五分之一的外商投资和进出口总额。提升战略正是下一批市场准入开放率先试点的所在。
外资的落脚点
2026年外国投资者的政策环境在纸面上空前友好。制造业领域外资准入限制已全面”清零”；2025年版《鼓励外商投资产业目录》净增205条鼓励类条目；服务业开放通过增值电信、生物技术、外商独资医院等试点推进。自贸区被明确赋予这些开放的”试验田”角色，而新设的内蒙古自贸区为既有沿海与内陆网络增添了边境走廊维度。
实践中，外国企业不应将”自贸区”视为单一整体。正确的问题是：哪个片区的比较优势与自身业务匹配——内蒙古适合北部走廊的跨境物流、资源与农业加工；沿海自贸区（上海/临港、广东、福建、天津等）适合先进制造、金融与服务；海南适合免税、离岸贸易与旅游消费。政策红利真实存在，但呈差异化分布。
实践要点
- 跟踪内蒙古自贸区2026年陆续出台的实施细则——《方案》是授权，但操作细节（试点清单、海关程序、激励政策）随地方规章落地。
- 若业务涉及跨境数据、增值电信、生物技术或外商独资医院，自贸区现今是最快合法路径——但须确认具体试点已在所选片区”落地”。
- 对海南，应在确定供应链设计前，测算74%零关税覆盖与加工增值免关税制度的税费效应。
- 用自贸区负面清单（不仅是全国版）测试受限行业是否在本地试点开放。
- 关注商务部的复制推广清单——在某自贸区验证的改革通常一两年内即推向全国。
风险与警示
两点警示为乐观降温。其一，总体方案是授权而非操作手册——内蒙古的具体激励、海关程序与试点清单将在2026年陆续以地方规章落地，故承诺应待细则出台。其二，自贸区红利呈差异化：海南的关税优势、内蒙古的通道逻辑与沿海片区的制造优势不可互换。为名气而非匹配度选片区，可能付出片区级合规成本却得不到定制红利。投入资本前，先筛查行业与片区的匹配。
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