2026 Abraham Forum on Services Trade

In 2025, the growth rate of global trade in services slowed down but still exhibited potential for growth. This was primarily influenced by uncertainties in trade policies, geopolitical conflicts, and economic slowdowns, yet emerging sectors such as digital trade in services experienced rapid development. In the first half of 2025, global trade in services grew by 5% year-on-year, marking a significant slowdown from the double-digit growth rates seen in 2024 and 2023. Major challenges include uncertainty in tariff policies, geopolitical tensions (such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Israel-Palestine conflict), and sluggish global economic growth. Digital trade in services accounted for 65% of total trade in services, marking an 8 percentage point increase year-on-year and becoming a core growth driver. The digital economy has facilitated the facilitation of trade in services, yet fragmented regulation (with the regulatory divergence index reaching 75 in 2025) has increased compliance risks. Global trade in services is experiencing an accelerated trend towards digitalization and intelligence, while facing challenges such as technological and security barriers. In terms of digitalization and intelligence transformation, cross-border payments have grown. It is estimated that the global B2B cross-border payment market will reach $47.8 trillion by 2032, with trade in services accounting for 27%. In terms of cross-border e-commerce, China's import and export volume of cross-border e-commerce reached RMB 2.38 trillion in 2024, with B2B accounting for over 70%. However, traditional systems face issues such as functional rigidity and compliance risks. China's trade in services has firmly secured the second position globally in terms of scale, while its trade in goods ranks first, demonstrating the resilience of foreign trade. In terms of technology-driven challenges, technological barriers and digital transformation require addressing issues such as data silos and compliance risks. In 2024, global service exports grew by 9.9% year-on-year, which was 7.6 percentage points higher than the growth rate of goods exports and accounted for 26.6% of total global exports, reaching a new high since 2005. In 2024, China's total trade in services reached USD 1.05646 trillion, growing by 13.2% year-on-year and surpassing the trillion-dollar mark for the first time, ranking second globally (behind the United States) and accounting for 14.6% of China's total foreign trade. In 2024, China's trade in services experienced an average annual growth rate of 12.4%, higher than the growth rate of trade in goods during the same period. In the first half of 2025, total trade in services reached USD 507.7 billion, growing by 8.0% year-on-year, with export growth significantly higher than import growth. In 2024, China's trade in services deficit was USD 164.67 billion, mainly concentrated in the fields of travel, telecommunications, computers, and information services.  ‌

Against this backdrop, amidst the slowdown in global service trade growth but still possessing growth potential, the "Abraham Service Trade Forum" is being organized by the Abraham Service Trade Network with the support of relevant authoritative institutions to explore issues related to global service trade. This forum will invite relevant government departments, industry experts, scholars, and entrepreneurs to explore new models for global service trade. We sincerely invite enterprises in the fields of business services, communication services, construction services, financial services, tourism services, entertainment and cultural services, transportation services, health and social services, education services, distribution services, environmental services, and other service-related enterprises to gather and exchange views on the current situation, challenges, and opportunities of global service trade, promoting a deep integration of industry, academia, research, and application globally. The Abraham Service Trade Forum is inviting submissions with the theme of global service trade.