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China, the world's second largest economy, surpassed the United States as the world's largest trader of goods, NBC News reported. The news comes as a surprise among uncertainty about China's economic recovery.
For the first time, China's combined trade from exports and imports exceeded $4 trillion. Exports in 2013 were $2.21 trillion, up 7.9 percent, while imports were $1.95 trillion, increasing 7.3 percent. The total trade amount increased 7.6 percent, landing at $4.16 trillion for 2013.
Though the U.S. has not yet announced trade results for the year of 2013, "it is very likely that China has overtaken the US to become the world's largest trading country," Zheng Yuesheng, spokesman for the General Administration of Customers, told the Hindustan Times. U.S. trade during the first 11 months of 2013 was $3.5 trillion.
China's trade dealings are heavily monitored because they are useful for determining trends in global demand, NBC News reported. The latest figures show that China's economy is growing.
"[The] pick-up in imports reflects that domestic demand is stronger than people expected," Geoff Lewis, a global market strategist for J.P. Morgan Asset Management, told CNBC. "We think China is still capable of growing 7-7.5 percent in 2014."
Although the numbers are a good sign, experts cautioned against looking too much into the increase as a definite sign of recovery. Experts predict China will report that 2013 economic growth was the weakest it's been since 1999, NBC News reported.
"Trade data is usually volatile around this time of year, with the Chinese New Year seasonal effect, so we should not be paying too much attention to monthly data for a while" Lewis said.
The current economic recovery is not "normal," Richard Martin, managing director of IMA Asia, told CNBC. Martin said investors in the West are still hesitant to take advantage of the improving market.
"Traditionally, when the west recovers, [China] exports will get a lift from strong consumer driven recovery in the Europe and United States," Martin told CNBC. "But that's not the case now. European consumers are still deleveraging, there's a bit of shyness still there in the US consumers, so that means you don't get a big factory run up."
For the first time, China's combined trade from exports and imports exceeded $4 trillion. Exports in 2013 were $2.21 trillion, up 7.9 percent, while imports were $1.95 trillion, increasing 7.3 percent. The total trade amount increased 7.6 percent, landing at $4.16 trillion for 2013.
Though the U.S. has not yet announced trade results for the year of 2013, "it is very likely that China has overtaken the US to become the world's largest trading country," Zheng Yuesheng, spokesman for the General Administration of Customers, told the Hindustan Times. U.S. trade during the first 11 months of 2013 was $3.5 trillion.
China's trade dealings are heavily monitored because they are useful for determining trends in global demand, NBC News reported. The latest figures show that China's economy is growing.
"[The] pick-up in imports reflects that domestic demand is stronger than people expected," Geoff Lewis, a global market strategist for J.P. Morgan Asset Management, told CNBC. "We think China is still capable of growing 7-7.5 percent in 2014."
Although the numbers are a good sign, experts cautioned against looking too much into the increase as a definite sign of recovery. Experts predict China will report that 2013 economic growth was the weakest it's been since 1999, NBC News reported.
"Trade data is usually volatile around this time of year, with the Chinese New Year seasonal effect, so we should not be paying too much attention to monthly data for a while" Lewis said.
The current economic recovery is not "normal," Richard Martin, managing director of IMA Asia, told CNBC. Martin said investors in the West are still hesitant to take advantage of the improving market.
"Traditionally, when the west recovers, [China] exports will get a lift from strong consumer driven recovery in the Europe and United States," Martin told CNBC. "But that's not the case now. European consumers are still deleveraging, there's a bit of shyness still there in the US consumers, so that means you don't get a big factory run up."
