Currently, China is confronting a profound aging population crisis, leading to the gradual erosion of its demographic dividend. The traditional export paradigm, which depended on “low-cost advantages” to compete internationally, has become increasingly unsustainable. Labor market integration is an important component of the construction of a unifi ed national market. Whether the interprovincial labor mobility brought about by labor market integration can promote the upgrading of export product quality and enhance international competitiveness is an important issue concerning the high-quality development of China’s exports. Grounded in theoretical analysis, this study utilizes HS 8-digit export data for the manufacturing sector from 2017 to 2022 and employs a three-dimensional fi xed eff ects model to examine the impact and underlying mechanisms of labor market integration on export product quality amid an aging population. Additionally, it explores the moderating role of labor market integration on export quality in the context of the United States imposing additional tariff s on China. The results demonstrate that labor market integration has a positive “U” shaped eff ect on export product quality, a fi nding that remains robust after rigorous robustness and endogeneity tests. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that this positive “U” -shaped relationship is observed in eastern regions, general trade, and middle-income and high-income countries, whereas an inverted “U” shaped eff ect is identifi ed in central regions. Mechanism analysis reveals that technological innovation, market competition, and labor costs are key factors. Furthermore, labor market integration exerts a mitigating infl uence on the adverse eff ects of aging on export product quality and eff ectively alleviates the negative impact of U.S. tariff hikes on the quality of Chinese exports. The aforementioned conclusions hold profound signifi cance for mitigating the adverse impacts of aging and U.S. tariff policies on China, fostering labor market integration, and advancing the high-quality development of Chinese exports.