05 April 2023

BEA PRESS RELEASE

 

www.bea.gov

U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, February 2023

8 - 11 minutes

The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced today that the goods and services deficit was $70.5 billion in February, up $1.9 billion from $68.7 billion in January, revised.

U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services Deficit
Deficit: $70.5 Billion +2.7%°
Exports: $251.2 Billion –2.7%°
Imports: $321.7 Billion –1.5%°

Next release: Thursday, May 4, 2023

(°) Statistical significance is not applicable or not measurable. Data adjusted for seasonality but not price changes

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis; U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, April 5, 2023

Goods and Services Trade Deficit: Seasonally adjusted

Exports, Imports, and Balance (exhibit 1)

February exports were $251.2 billion, $6.9 billion less than January exports. February imports were $321.7 billion, $5.0 billion less than January imports.

The February increase in the goods and services deficit reflected an increase in the goods deficit of $2.7 billion to $93.0 billion and an increase in the services surplus of $0.8 billion to $22.4 billion.

Year-to-date, the goods and services deficit decreased $35.5 billion, or 20.3% , from the same period in 2022. Exports increased $49.5 billion or 10.8 %. Imports increased $14.0 billion or 2.2%.

Three-Month Moving Averages (exhibit 2)

The average goods and services deficit increased $3.3 billion to $68.8 billion for the three months ending in February.

  • Average exports decreased $0.3 billion to $252.7 billion in February.
  • Average imports increased $3.0 billion to $321.5 billion in February.

Year-over-year, the average goods and services deficit decreased $15.7 billion from the three months ending in February 2022.

  • Average exports increased $22.0 billion from February 2022.
  • Average imports increased $6.3 billion from February 2022.

Exports (exhibits 3, 6, and 7)

Exports of goods decreased $8.5 billion to $169.2 billion in February.

   Exports of goods on a Census basis decreased $6.7 billion.

  • Industrial supplies and materials decreased $2.6 billion.
    • Natural gas decreased $1.5 billion.
    • Nonmonetary gold decreased $0.5 billion.
  • Automotive vehicles, parts, and engines decreased $1.9 billion.
    • Passenger cars decreased $1.2 billion.
  • Consumer goods decreased $1.4 billion.
    • Pharmaceutical preparations decreased $2.3 billion.
    • Gem diamonds increased $0.5 billion.
  • Capital goods decreased $1.3 billion.
    • Civilian aircraft decreased $0.5 billion.

   Net balance of payments adjustments decreased $1.9 billion.

Exports of services increased $1.7 billion to $82.0 billion in February.

  • Travel increased $1.4 billion.

Imports (exhibits 4, 6, and 8)

Imports of goods decreased $5.8 billion to $262.2 billion in February.

   Imports of goods on a Census basis decreased $5.9 billion.

  • Consumer goods decreased $3.7 billion.
    • Cell phones and other household goods decreased $1.5 billion.
    • Pharmaceutical preparations decreased $0.6 billion.
    • Cotton apparel and household goods decreased $0.5 billion.
  • Automotive vehicles, parts, and engines decreased $2.9 billion.
    • Passenger cars decreased $1.5 billion.
    • Trucks, buses, and special purpose vehicles decreased $1.1 billion.

   Net balance of payments adjustments increased $0.1 billion.

Imports of services increased $0.8 billion to $59.5 billion in February.

  • Transport increased $0.7 billion.

Real Goods in 2012 Dollars – Census Basis (exhibit 11)

The real goods deficit increased $2.7 billion, or 2.7 percent, to $104.6 billion in February, compared to a 0.8 percent increase in the nominal deficit.

  • Real exports of goods decreased $6.7 billion, or 4.1 percent, to $155.6 billion, compared to a 3.8 percent decrease in nominal exports.
  • Real imports of goods decreased $4.0 billion, or 1.5 percent, to $260.2 billion, compared to a 2.2 percent decrease in nominal imports.

Revisions

Revisions to January exports

  • Exports of goods were revised down $0.1 billion.
  • Exports of services were revised up $0.6 billion.

Revisions to January imports

  • Imports of goods were revised up $0.1 billion.
  • Imports of services were revised up $0.8 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 ($4.7), Hong Kong ($2.5), Netherlands ($1.8), Belgium ($1.6), Australia ($1.5), Brazil ($0.9), United Kingdom ($0.5), and Singapore ($0.2). 

Deficits were recorded, in billions of dollars, with China ($25.2), European Union ($18.1), Mexico ($12.0), Vietnam ($8.1), Germany ($7.9), Japan ($5.7), Canada ($5.6), Taiwan ($4.7), South Korea ($4.5), Ireland ($3.7), India ($3.7), Italy ($3.4), Malaysia ($2.8), Switzerland ($1.7), Saudi Arabia ($0.7), Israel ($0.6), and France ($0.6).

  • The deficit with China increased $3.2 billion to $25.2 billion in February. Exports decreased $1.4 billion to $13.1 billion and imports increased $1.8 billion to $38.2 billion.
  • The surplus with the United Kingdom decreased $2.2 billion to $0.5 billion in February. Exports decreased $1.6 billion to $6.2 billion and imports increased $0.7 billion to $5.7 billion.
  • The surplus with Hong Kong increased $1.0 billion to $2.5 billion in February. Exports increased $1.0 billion to $2.8 billion and imports increased less than $0.1 billion to $0.3 billion.

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/data/intl-trade-investment/international-trade-goods-and-services. The full schedule is available in the Census Bureau's Economic Briefing Room at www.census.gov/economic-indicators/ or on BEA's website at www.bea.gov/news/schedule.

Next release: May 4, 2023, at 8:30 a.m. EDT
U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, March 2023

Notice

Upcoming Updates to Goods and Services

With the releases of the "U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services" report (FT-900) and the FT-900 Annual Revision on June 7, 2023, statistics on trade in goods on both a Census basis and a balance of payments (BOP) basis will be revised beginning with 2018 and statistics on trade in services will be revised beginning with 2017. The revised statistics for goods on a BOP basis and for services will also be included in the "U.S. International Transactions, First Quarter 2023 and Annual Update" report and in the international transactions interactive database, both to be released by BEA on June 22, 2023.

Revised statistics on trade in goods will reflect:

  • Corrections and adjustments to previously published not seasonally adjusted statistics for goods on a Census basis.
  • End-use reclassifications of several commodities.
  • Recalculated seasonal and trading-day adjustments.
  • Newly available and revised source data on BOP adjustments, which are adjustments that BEA applies to goods on a Census basis to convert them to a BOP basis. See the "Goods (balance of payments basis)" section in the explanatory notes for more information.

Revised statistics on trade in services will reflect:

  • Newly available and revised source data, primarily from BEA surveys of international services.
  • Recalculated seasonal adjustments.
  • Revised temporal distributions of quarterly source data to monthly statistics. See the "Services" section in the explanatory notes for more information.

A preview of BEA's 2023 annual update of the International Transactions Accounts will be available in the Survey of Current Business later in April 2023.

Upcoming Change to the Real (Chained-Dollar) Series

With the releases of the FT-900 and the FT-900 Annual Revision on June 7, 2023, the reference year for the chained-dollar series will be updated to 2017 from 2012 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 or need additional information, please contact the Census Bureau, Economic Indicators Division, International Trade Macro Analysis Branch, on (800) 549-0595, option 4, or at eid.international.trade.data@census.gov or BEA, Balance of Payments Division, at InternationalAccounts@bea.gov.

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