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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
                                   February 2013

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 February exports of $186.0 billion and imports of $228.9
billion resulted in a goods and services deficit of $43.0 billion, down from $44.5 billion
in January, revised. February exports were $1.6 billion more than January exports of $184.4
billion. February imports were $0.1 billion more than January imports of $228.9 billion.

In February, the goods deficit decreased $1.5 billion from January to $60.2 billion, and
the services surplus was virtually unchanged from January at $17.3 billion. Exports of goods
increased $1.3 billion to $132.2 billion, and imports of goods decreased $0.1 billion to $192.4
billion. Exports of services increased $0.2 billion to $53.8 billion, and imports of services
increased $0.2 billion to $36.5 billion.

The goods and services deficit decreased $1.6 billion from February 2012 to February 2013.
Exports were up $5.8 billion, or 3.2 percent, and imports were up $4.2 billion, or 1.9 percent.

Goods (Census Basis)

The January to February increase in exports of goods reflected increases in industrial supplies
and materials ($1.8 billion); other goods ($0.5 billion); and automotive vehicles, parts, and
engines ($0.2 billion). Decreases occurred in capital goods ($0.8 billion); consumer goods
($0.3 billion); and foods, feeds, and beverages ($0.1 billion).

The January to February decrease in imports of goods reflected decreases in industrial supplies
and materials ($2.6 billion) and other goods ($0.3 billion). Increases occurred in automotive
vehicles, parts, and engines ($1.1 billion); consumer goods ($0.7 billion); capital goods
($0.3 billion); and foods, feeds, and beverages ($0.2 billion).

The February 2012 to February 2013 increase in exports of goods reflected increases in
foods, feeds, and beverages ($1.7 billion); industrial supplies and materials ($1.2 billion);
other goods ($0.4 billion); consumer goods ($0.3 billion); automotive vehicles, parts, and 
engines ($0.3 billion); and capital goods ($0.1 billion).

The February 2012 to February 2013 increase in imports of goods reflected increases in
consumer goods ($4.9 billion); capital goods ($1.5 billion); foods, feeds, and beverages
($0.6 billion); and automotive vehicles, parts, and engines ($0.2 billion). A decrease occurred
in industrial supplies and materials ($3.3 billion). Other goods were virtually unchanged.

Services

Exports of services increased $0.2 billion from January to February.  The increase was
mostly accounted for by increases in other transportation ($0.1 billion), which includes
freight and port services, and travel ($0.1 billion).  Changes in the other categories of
services exports were relatively small.

Imports of services increased $0.2 billion from January to February.  The increase was more
than accounted for by increases in other transportation ($0.1 billion), travel ($0.1 billion),
and passenger fares ($0.1 billion).  Changes in the other categories of services imports were
relatively small.

The February 2012 to February 2013 increase in exports of services was $1.8 billion or 3.5
percent.  The largest increases were in other private services ($0.8 billion), which
includes items such as business, professional, and technical services, insurance services,
and financial services, and travel ($0.5 billion).  Within other private services, the largest
increase was in financial services.

The February 2012 to February 2013 increase in imports of services was $0.1 billion or 0.2
percent. Increases in other transportation ($0.4 billion) and other private services
($0.2 billion) were partly offset by decreases in direct defense expenditures ($0.2 billion)
and travel ($0.2 billion).  Within other private services, the largest increase was in insurance
services.

Goods and Services Moving Average

For the three months ending in February, exports of goods and services averaged $185.7 billion,
while imports of goods and services averaged $227.5 billion, resulting in an average trade
deficit of $41.9 billion.  For the three months ending in January, the average trade deficit
was $43.6 billion, reflecting average exports of $184.5 billion and average imports of
$228.1 billion.

Selected Not Seasonally Adjusted Goods Details

The February figures show surpluses, in billions of dollars, with Hong Kong $3.3
($2.7 for January), Australia $1.3 ($1.2), Singapore $0.9 ($0.7), and Brazil $1.7 ($0.9).
Deficits were recorded, in billions of dollars, with China $23.4 ($27.8), European Union $8.8 ($8.6),
Japan $5.9 ($6.1), Germany $4.5 ($4.2), Mexico $4.3 ($3.6), OPEC $3.6 ($6.4), Canada $2.6 ($4.8),
Ireland $2.2 ($1.9), Saudi Arabia $1.8 ($1.9), India $1.2 ($1.5), Korea $1.2 ($2.1), and
Venezuela $1.1 ($2.0).

Advanced technology products exports were $23.0 billion in February and imports were $28.0
billion, resulting in a deficit of $5.0 billion. February exports were $1.0 billion less
than the $24.0 billion in January, while February imports were $3.2 billion less than the
$31.2 billion in January.

Revisions

Census Basis (not seasonally adjusted)

For January, exports of goods were revised up $0.1 billion and imports of goods were virtually
unrevised. Goods carry-over in February was $0.2 billion (0.2 percent) for exports and
$1.1 billion (0.6 percent) for imports.  For January, revised export carry-over was
$0.1 billion (0.1 percent) and revised import carry-over was $0.3 billion (0.2 percent).

Balance of Payments Basis (seasonally adjusted)

For January, exports of goods were revised up $0.1 billion and imports of goods were
virtually unrevised.

For January, exports of services were revised down $0.1 billion, reflecting downward revisions
in travel and passenger fares.  For January, imports of services were revised down $0.1 billion,
reflecting a downward revision in travel.

NOTICE

Upcoming Revisions to Goods and Services

On June 4, 2013, the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)
will release "U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services: April 2013" and "U.S.
International Trade in Goods and Services: Annual Revision for 2012."  With these releases,
statistics on U.S. trade in goods and services will be revised to reflect newly available
and more complete source data, changes in classifications, and improved estimation methods.
The revisions will affect statistics for January 1999 to March 2013 for both exports and
imports.  The revised statistics will also be reflected in "U.S. International Transactions:
First Quarter 2013" and in the annual revision of the U.S. international transactions accounts, 
both to be released by BEA on June 14, 2013.

Revisions to exports and imports of goods on a Census basis will reflect a change in the Census
Bureau's revision policy to apply corrections and adjustments to the not seasonally adjusted
data for the prior three years (2010-2012), as well as recalculated seasonal and trading-day
adjustments for January 2010 to March 2013.  As a result of these changes,
Exhibits 6, 7, 13, 14, 15, 15a, 16, and 17 in the "U.S. International Trade in Goods
and Services: Annual Revision for 2012" release will be expanded to present three years
of revised statistics.  More information on changes to the revision policy and sample files
of the modified exhibits are available at
(www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/notices/20130307_RevisionPolicy.html).

In addition to revised statistics on goods on a Census basis, revisions to exports and imports
of goods on a balance of payments (BOP) basis will reflect revised BOP adjustments - adjustments
that BEA applies to goods on a Census basis to convert them to a BOP basis.  The adjustments
will be revised beginning with January 2007 for exports and with January 1999 for imports.
For more information on BOP adjustments, see the information section that begins on page A-1
of this release.

Revisions to exports and imports of services, which will be revised beginning with January 1999,
will reflect a combination of newly available and more complete source data, changes in
classifications, and improved estimation methods.

Changes to the Real (Chained) Dollar Series

With the releases in June (see above), the base year for the chained-dollar series will be
changed to 2009 from 2005 to base the time series on prices from a more recent year.  Historical
data for January 1994 to April 2013 will be available at
(www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/historical/) at the time of release.

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