The Impact of Digital Economy on China's Coastal Foreign Trade--Mediation Effect Based on E-Commerce and Urbanisation Level

Abstract

Against the backdrop of intensifying global trade frictions and rising geopolitical risks, the development of foreign trade in China's coastal regions faces many challenges. At the same time, the rapid development of digital economy provides new opportunities for foreign trade, promoting industrial upgrading and enhancing trade efficiency. Current research mainly focuses on the direct impact of digital economy on foreign trade. Meanwhile, this study fills the current research gap by exploring how the digital economy affects foreign trade through e-commerce and the level of urbanization. This study aims to analyze the direct impact of the digital economy on China's coastal foreign trade, and to explore the mediating role of e-commerce and urbanization level to reveal its mechanism of action. At the same time, the study will examine the regional heterogeneity of this impact and clarify the differences in the impact of the digital economy in different coastal regions. Based on econometric theory, panel data theory, mediating effect theory and new trade theory, this study constructs a panel data model, an econometric model and a mediating effect model to test the hypotheses. The digital economy index is measured by entropy method and principal component analysis, and Robustness test, Endogeneity test and Heterogeneity analysis are used to ensure the credibility and accuracy of the regression results. The results of this study highlight the important role of the digital economy in promoting China's coastal foreign trade and the mediating effect that exists between e-commerce and the level of urbanisation.