"China Releases 2013 Trade Figures"

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Today's business news starts with trading places.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

GREENE: China might have just dislodged the United States from a position it held for decades as the world's top trading nation. The latest Chinese figures put the value of its overall trade at $4.6 trillion last year.

The United States will release its own 2013 data next month. But for the first 11 months of the year, its trade was worth $3.5 trillion.