China mandates equipment replacement and trade-in subsidies nationwide — with unified pricing for the first time

China's central planning agency just issued a binding directive requiring all provinces to implement equipment replacement and consumer goods trade-in programs in 2026, with standardized subsidy rates across the entire country. This means manufacturers, retailers, and local governments can no longer negotiate different subsidy levels by region — the rules are now uniform, which makes it easier for companies to plan production and distribution but harder for local officials to customize programs to their economies.

For the first time, China is enforcing a single national subsidy structure instead of letting provinces set their own rates. This is a deliberate move toward what the directive calls 'unified national market building' — which means Beijing is using equipment replacement policy to lock in standardized pricing and eliminate regional arbitrage. The subsidy amounts are specific: 12% of vehicle price (capped at 20,000 yuan) for new energy cars traded in, 15% for top-tier home appliances, 15% for smartphones and tablets. What changes is the ability of local governments and manufacturers to exploit regional price differences. What becomes possible is national-scale supply chain planning — a company can now build one production forecast for all of China instead of negotiating 30 different provincial deals.