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                                     U.S. Census Bureau
                               U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
                                            NEWS
                       U.S. Department of Commerce * Washington, DC 20230

                         U.S. INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN GOODS AND SERVICES
                                        January 2012

Goods and Services

The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, through the Department
of Commerce, announced today that total January exports of $180.8 billion and imports of
$233.4 billion resulted in a goods and services deficit of $52.6 billion, up from $50.4
billion in December, revised.  January exports were $2.6 billion more than December exports of
$178.2 billion.  January imports were $4.7 billion more than December imports of $228.7 billion.

In January, the goods deficit increased $2.4 billion from December to $67.5 billion, and the
services surplus increased $0.3 billion from December to $14.9 billion.  Exports of goods
increased $1.9 billion to $128.6 billion, and imports of goods increased $4.3 billion to $196.1
billion.  Exports of services increased $0.7 billion to $52.2 billion, and imports of services
increased $0.4 billion to $37.3 billion.

The goods and services deficit increased $5.0 billion from January 2011 to January 2012.  Exports
were up $12.9 billion, or 7.7 percent, and imports were up $18.0 billion, or 8.4 percent.

Goods (Census Basis)

The December to January increase in exports of goods reflected increases in capital goods
($1.3 billion); automotive vehicles, parts, and engines ($1.1 billion); and foods, feeds, and
beverages ($0.1 billion).  Decreases occurred in other goods ($0.5 billion); industrial supplies
and materials ($0.3 billion); and consumer goods ($0.2 billion).

The December to January increase in imports of goods reflected increases in automotive vehicles,
parts, and engines ($2.4 billion); industrial supplies and materials ($1.1 billion); foods,
feeds, and beverages ($0.4 billion); and consumer goods ($0.2 billion).  A decrease occurred
in other goods ($0.1 billion).  Capital goods were virtually unchanged.

The January 2011 to January 2012 increase in exports of goods reflected increases in capital
goods ($4.3 billion); industrial supplies and materials ($2.5 billion); automotive vehicles,
parts, and engines ($1.9 billion); and consumer goods ($0.4 billion).  A decrease occurred in
other goods ($0.1 billion).  Foods, feeds, and beverages were virtually unchanged.

The January 2011 to January 2012 increase in imports of goods reflected increases in industrial
supplies and materials ($5.3 billion); automotive vehicles, parts, and engines ($3.4 billion);
capital goods ($2.8 billion); consumer goods ($1.4 billion); foods, feeds, and beverages
($1.2 billion); and other goods ($0.7 billion).

Services

Exports of services increased $0.7 billion from December to January.  The increase was mostly
accounted for by increases in other private services (which includes items such as business,
professional, and technical services, insurance services, and financial services), travel,
royalties and license fees, and passenger fares.  Changes in the other categories of services
exports were small.

Imports of services increased $0.4 billion from December to January.  The increase was more
than accounted for by increases in other private services, other transportation (which includes
freight and port services), and passenger fares.  A decrease in travel was partly offsetting.
Changes in the other categories of services imports were small.

The January 2011 to January 2012 increase in exports of services was $3.9 billion.  The largest
increases were in royalties and license fees ($1.7 billion), other private services ($1.1 billion),
and travel ($0.6 billion).  Within other private services, the largest increase was in business,
professional, and technical services.

The January 2011 to January 2012 increase in imports of services was $2.7 billion.  The largest
increases were in other private services ($1.9 billion) and royalties and license fees
($0.4 billion).  Within other private services, the largest increase was in business, professional,
and technical services.

Goods and Services Moving Average

For the three months ending in January, exports of goods and services averaged $178.9 billion,
while imports of goods and services averaged $229.0 billion, resulting in an average trade deficit
of $50.2 billion.  For the three months ending in December, the average trade deficit was $47.0
billion, reflecting average exports of $178.5 billion and average imports of $225.5 billion.

Selected Not Seasonally Adjusted Goods Details

The January figures show surpluses, in billions of dollars, with Hong Kong $2.1 ($2.5 for December),
Australia $1.6 ($1.7), Singapore $0.8 ($1.3), and Egypt $0.2 ($0.2). Deficits were recorded, in
billions of dollars, with China $26.0 ($23.1), OPEC $10.0 ($9.1), European Union $8.5 ($9.6),
Japan $6.2 ($6.5), Canada $4.8 ($3.9), Mexico $4.2 ($4.9), Germany $4.1 ($4.8), Ireland $2.3
($2.8), Venezuela $2.0 ($2.0), Korea $1.4 ($0.5), Taiwan $1.3 ($0.8), and Nigeria $1.3 ($1.3).

Advanced technology products exports were $22.5 billion in January and imports were $29.2 billion,
resulting in a deficit of $6.7 billion.  January exports were $3.7 billion less than the $26.2
billion in December, while January imports were $5.0 billion less than the $34.2 billion in December.

Revisions

For all months of 2011, the seasonally adjusted goods data, on both a Census basis and a balance
of payments basis, and the seasonally adjusted services data were revised to align the months
with the annual totals.

Census Basis (not seasonally adjusted)

For December, exports of goods were virtually unrevised and imports of goods were revised up
$0.4 billion. Goods carry-over in January was $0.2 billion (0.2 percent) for exports and
$1.3 billion (0.7 percent) for imports.  For December, revised export carry-over was virtually
zero. For December, revised import carry-over was $0.2 billion (0.1 percent).

Balance of Payments Basis (seasonally adjusted)

For July through December 2011, exports and imports of goods and services were revised to
incorporate more comprehensive and updated quarterly and monthly data.

For December, exports of goods were revised down $0.4 billion and imports of goods were
revised up $0.4 billion.

For December, exports of services were revised down $0.2 billion, mostly reflecting downward
revisions in travel and passenger fares that were partly offset by upward revisions in other
private services and royalties and license fees.  For December, imports of services were revised
up $0.7 billion, mostly reflecting an upward revision in other private services.


NOTICE

Effective with this release, the U.S. Census Bureau (Census) and the U.S. Bureau of Economic
Analysis (BEA) have implemented the following changes:

Changes to the Real Chained (2005) Dollar Series

Census has begun seasonally adjusting selected export and import prices that previously were
not seasonally adjusted.  These prices are used in calculating the chained dollar series that
are presented in Exhibits 10 and 11.  Chained dollar statistics for 2010 and 2011 have been
revised to reflect this new procedure.  Statistics prior to 2010 will be made available with
the release of the Annual Revision for 2011 on June 8, 2012.  For time series consistency,
statistics calculated using the not seasonally adjusted prices are available upon request.

This change improves the overall quality of the chained dollar series by removing identified
seasonal patterns.  Additional information is available at
www.census.gov/foreign-trade/aip/seasonalchain.html. This change also improves consistency
between the Census chained dollar data and the chained dollar data published by BEA in the
National Income and Product Accounts.  For information on recent changes to BEAs seasonal
adjustment procedures, see Annual Revision of the National Income and Product Accounts in
the August 2011 Survey of Current Business, p. 27.

If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact the Special Projects
Branch of the U.S. Census Bureaus Foreign Trade Division on (301) 763-3251 or the Data
Dissemination Branch at ftd.data.dissemination@census.gov.

Changes to Countries Featured in Exhibit 18 and in Supplemental Exhibit 3

Census and BEA have changed the countries that are featured in Exhibit 18 and in Supplemental
Exhibit 3 in order to reflect a more comprehensive picture of current U.S. trade in motor vehicles
and parts and in crude oil, respectively.  The general structure of these exhibits is unchanged.

If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact the Data Dissemination
Branch of the U.S. Census Bureaus Foreign Trade Division on (800) 549-0595, option 4, or at
ftd.data.dissemination@census.gov.

Changes to End-Use Commodity Category Descriptions

Census and BEA have changed the descriptions of four end-use commodity categories within consumer
goods in order to better reflect the composition of these categories as well as changes in
technology.  These changes, listed below, appear in Exhibits 7 and 8.

New Description                                         Previous Description

Televisions and video equipment 			TVs, VCRs, etc.
Other consumer nondurables 				Writing and art supplies
Cell phones and other household goods, n.e.c.		Other household goods
Recorded media                                          Records, tapes, and disks

If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact the Data Dissemination
Branch of the U.S. Census Bureaus Foreign Trade Division on (800) 549-0595, option 4, or at
ftd.data.dissemination@census.gov.