Article updated: 2/19/2013 7:51 AM

China rejects status as world’s biggest trader

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Workers paste a giant advertisement poster for foreign product on the window of a department store in Shenyang in northeast China's Liaoning province.

Associated Press

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China has a new status its government doesn't want — world's biggest trader. Official Chinese and American trade data indicates China passed the United States last year in total imports and exports by a margin of $3.866 trillion to $3.822 trillion. That is about $44 billion, or just over 1 percent of China's total.The Commerce Ministry has taken the unusual step of publicly denying China is the new No. 1. It says China still trailed the U.S. by $15.6 billion last year — or a razor-thin 0.3 percent — under World Trade Organization standards for valuing goods.