A new year, fresh results, and new record-breakers. International experts, watchdogs that make a lot of calculations and estimations, summed up the results of 2013 and uttered a loud statement. For the first time in a long time, the People's Republic of China occupied the top position in the world trade rating. Usually this majestic title goes to the United States, a permanent leader in that area. However, in 2013, the Empire played the main role in world trade. The Chinese managed not only to deal with economic slowdown in early 2013, but also became the biggest trader in the world at the end of the last year. December was a month of records. Due to a rise in consumption activity, China is on top of the world in terms of external trade. The overall value on import and export is solid – $4.16 trillion. Analysts compared this figure with the previous year's reading and marked a record growth of 7.6 percent. This time, the US failed to take the top place even despite that the final data is to be released in February. With trade totaling $3.57 trillion in the first 11 months of the year, the US is unlikely to beat China. Taking into account the overall import and export turnover, we see that China became the largest global trading nation leaving the US behind. Beijing said that these achievements are “a landmark milestone for the nation's foreign trade development”. Zheng Yuesheng, a spokesman for the General Administration of Customs, believes that this victory is a well-deserved reward for months of laborious work of the whole country. In his official statement, the politician emphasized that in 2014, China is expected to demonstrate even more impressive results.
