According to official statistics released by China and the US, China surpassed the US in 2012 as the world's largest exporting and importing nation after it overcame Germany in 2009 as the world's largest exporter.
With the latest achievement, the country has reached another critical milestone in its rise to global economic power and influence.
A Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) report released by the US Department of Commerce on February 8, 2008, showed that US import and export of goods in 2012 amounted to $3.82 trillion. According to Bloomberg, a report released by China's customs administration in January showed that the country's total trading of goods, both import and export in 2012, amounted to $3.87 trillion.
Bloomberg News reports that Nicholas Lardy, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute of International Economics in Washington, said: "It is remarkable that an economy that is only a fraction of the size of the U.S. economy has a larger trading volume." According to Bloomberg, Lardy said the increase in the volume of China's trade in goods was not due entirely to its undervalued currency which promotes exports due to cost advantage in the global market. To support his argument, he pointed out that China's imports have grown more rapidly than exports since 2007.
Global trade analysts note, however, that a significant part of China's imports represents raw materials imports and parts to be assembled into finished products or re-exportation.
According to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), total US trade in 2012, when imported and exported services are taken into account along with goods, was $4.93 trillion. BEA reports that the US recorded a trade surplus of $195.3 billion in services last year, but posted a deficit in excess of $700 billion in goods. However, China posted a trade surplus of $231.1 billion in goods in the same period.