The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced today that the goods and services deficit was $57.6 billion in February, up $0.9 billion from $56.7 billion in January, revised.

Exports, Imports, and Balance (exhibit 1)

February exports were $204.4 billion, $3.5 billion more than January exports. February imports were $262.0 billion, $4.4 billion more than January imports.

The February increase in the goods and services deficit reflected an increase in the goods deficit of $0.3 billion to $77.0 billion and a decrease in the services surplus of $0.6 billion to $19.4 billion.

Year-to-date, the goods and services deficit increased $21.1 billion, or 22.7 percent, from the same period in 2017. Exports increased $22.4 billion or 5.9 percent. Imports increased $43.6 billion or 9.1 percent.

Three-Month Moving Averages (exhibit 2)

The average goods and services deficit increased $2.2 billion to $56.1 billion for the three months ending in February.

• Average exports increased $1.4 billion to $203.0 billion in February.
• Average imports increased $3.6 billion to $259.1 billion in February.

Year-over-year, the average goods and services deficit increased $10.1 billion from the three months ending in February 2017.

• Average exports increased $12.2 billion from February 2017.
• Average imports increased $22.3 billion from February 2017.

Exports (exhibits 3, 6, and 7)

Exports of goods increased $3.0 billion to $137.2 billion in February.

Exports of goods on a Census basis increased $3.1 billion.

• Industrial supplies and materials increased $2.0 billion.
  • Nonmonetary gold increased $0.6 billion.
  • Crude oil increased $0.3 billion.
  • Natural gas increased $0.3 billion.
• Automotive vehicles, parts, and engines increased $0.9 billion.
  • Passenger cars increased $0.7 billion.
• Capital goods increased $0.7 billion.
  • Civilian aircraft increased $0.2 billion.
  • Drilling and oilfield equipment increased $0.2 billion.
• Consumer goods decreased $0.8 billion.
  • Pharmaceutical preparations decreased $0.6 billion.

Net balance of payments adjustments decreased $0.1 billion.

Exports of services increased $0.5 billion to $67.3 billion in February.

• Transport increased $0.2 billion.
• Travel (for all purposes including education) increased $0.1 billion.
• Charges for the use of intellectual property increased $0.1 billion.

Imports (exhibits 4, 6, and 8)

Imports of goods increased $3.3 billion to $214.2 billion in February.

Imports of goods on a Census basis increased $3.5 billion.

• Capital goods increased $1.8 billion.
  • Civilian aircraft increased $0.5 billion.
  • Materials-handling equipment increased $0.3 billion.
  • Computers increased $0.3 billion.
• Industrial supplies and materials increased $0.8 billion.
  • Crude oil increased $0.7 billion.
• Foods, feeds, and beverages increased $0.8 billion.

Net balance of payments adjustments decreased $0.2 billion.

Imports of services increased $1.1 billion to $47.8 billion in February.

• The largest increase was in charges for the use of intellectual property ($1.0 billion). The increase reflects payments for the rights to broadcast the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.
• The largest decrease was in travel (for all purposes including education) ($0.2 billion).

Real Goods in 2009 Dollars – Census Basis (exhibit 11)

The real goods deficit decreased $0.9 billion to $69.1 billion in February.

• Real exports of goods increased $2.5 billion to $129.4 billion.
• Real imports of goods increased $1.7 billion to $198.5 billion.

Revisions

Revisions to January exports

• Exports of goods were revised down $0.1 billion.
• Exports of services were revised up $0.1 billion.

Revisions to January imports

• Imports of goods were revised up $0.1 billion.
• Imports of services were revised down less than $0.1 billion.

Goods by Selected Countries and Areas: Monthly – Census Basis (exhibit 19)

The February figures show surpluses, in billions of dollars, with South and Central America ($3.4), Hong Kong ($3.1), Brazil ($0.9), United Kingdom ($0.6), and Singapore ($0.5). Deficits were recorded, in billions of dollars, with China ($34.7), European Union ($15.3), Germany ($6.7), Mexico ($6.6), Japan ($6.0), Italy ($2.8), OPEC ($2.3), India ($1.9), Taiwan ($1.5), France ($1.4), South Korea ($1.1), Saudi Arabia ($0.4), and Canada ($0.4).

• The deficit with Mexico increased $1.0 billion to $6.6 billion in February. Exports decreased less than $0.1 billion to $21.9 billion and imports increased $0.9 billion to $28.5 billion.
• The deficit with Germany increased $0.4 billion to $6.7 billion in February. Exports decreased $0.2 billion to $4.7 billion and imports increased $0.2 billion to $11.3 billion.
• The deficit with Canada decreased $1.2 billion to $0.4 billion in February. Exports increased $1.2 billion to $26.1 billion and imports increased less than $0.1 billion to $26.4 billion.

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All statistics referenced are seasonally adjusted; statistics are on a balance of payments basis unless otherwise specified. Additional statistics, including not seasonally adjusted statistics and details for goods on a Census basis, are available in Exhibits 1-20b of this release. For information on data sources, definitions, and revision procedures, see the explanatory notes in this release. The full release can be found at www.census.gov/foreign-trade/Press-Release/current_press_release/index.html or www.bea.gov/newsreleases/international/trade/tradnewsrelease.htm. The full schedule is available in the Census Bureau’s Economic Briefing Room at www.census.gov/economic-indicators/.

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Next release: May 3, 2018, at 8:30 A.M. EDT

U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services: March 2018

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Notice

Upcoming Updates to Goods and Services

On June 6, 2018, 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 2018” (FT-900) and “U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services: Annual Revision” (FT-900 Annual Revision). With these releases, statistics on trade in goods on a Census basis will be revised beginning with 2015, and statistics on trade in goods on a balance of payments (BOP) basis and on trade in services will be revised beginning with 2010. The revised statistics for goods on a BOP basis and for services will also be included in the “U.S. International Transactions: First Quarter 2018 and Annual Update” report and in the international transactions interactive database, both to be released by BEA on June 20, 2018.

Revised statistics on trade in goods on a Census basis will reflect 1) corrections and adjustments to previously published not seasonally adjusted statistics, 2) reclassifications of several end-use commodities, and 3) recalculated seasonal and trading-day adjustments.

In addition to revisions to goods on a Census basis, revised statistics on goods on a BOP basis will reflect revised BOP adjustments, which are adjustments that BEA applies to goods on a Census basis to convert them to a BOP basis. With this annual update, BOP adjustments for estimating exports through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program will be discontinued because the Census-basis goods data now provide more complete coverage of these exports. BEA will use the Census-basis exports as the source for FMS goods for statistics beginning with 2010. Other revisions to BOP adjustments will reflect newly available and revised source data and recalculated seasonal and trading-day adjustments beginning with 2015. For more information on BOP adjustments, see the “Goods (balance of payments basis)” section in the explanatory notes.

Revised statistics on trade in services will reflect 1) a new method for estimating goods and services transferred through military grant programs, 2) newly available and revised source data, primarily from BEA’s surveys of international services transactions, 3) recalculated seasonal adjustments, and 4) revised temporal distributions of quarterly source data to monthly statistics (see the “Services” section in the explanatory notes for more information). Exports will be revised beginning with 2010 and imports will be revised beginning with 2013.

An article previewing BEA’s 2018 annual update of the international transactions accounts will appear in the May 2018 issue of the Survey of Current Business. If you have questions, please contact BEA, Balance of Payments Division, at InternationalAccounts@bea.gov.

Upcoming Change to the Real (Chained-Dollar) Series

With the releases of the FT-900 and the FT-900 Annual Revision on June 6, 2018, the reference year for the chained-dollar series will be updated to 2012 from 2009 to reference the time series on prices from a more recent year. The historical chained-dollar series, which begin in 1994, will also be revised to reflect the new reference year. See the “Adjustments for price change” section in the explanatory notes for more information.

If you have questions, please contact the Census Bureau, Economic Indicators Division, on (800) 549-0595, option 4, or at eid.international.trade.data@census.gov.