This paper investigates the Belt and Road Initiative's effect on China's export structure upgrading using a country panel dataset from 2003 to 2017. The empirical strategy combines a propensity score matching procedure with a difference-in-difference estimator to address the potential selection bias inherent in the analysis. The results indicate that China's export structure upgrading was associated with the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative. When taking the time lag into consideration, the initiative plays a positive role in export structure upgrading after 2015. In contrast, further analysis shows that China's exports to developing and transition countries along the Belt and Road routes have no export structure promotion effect.