FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AT 8:30 A.M. EDT, THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2017 CB 17-64 BEA 17-21 FT-900 (17-03) 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 March 2017 The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, through the Department of Commerce, announced today that the goods and services deficit was $43.7 billion in March, down $0.1 billion from $43.8 billion in February, revised. March exports were $191.0 billion, $1.7 billion less than February exports. March imports were $234.7 billion, $1.7 billion less than February imports. The March decrease in the goods and services deficit reflected an increase in the goods deficit of $0.4 billion to $65.5 billion and an increase in the services surplus of $0.4 billion to $21.8 billion. Year-to-date, the goods and services deficit increased $9.4 billion, or 7.5 percent, from the same period in 2016. Exports increased $38.0 billion or 7.1 percent. Imports increased $47.5 billion or 7.1 percent. Goods and Services Three-Month Moving Averages (Exhibit 2) The average goods and services deficit decreased $0.2 billion to $45.2 billion for the three months ending in March. * Average exports of goods and services decreased less than $0.1 billion to $192.1 billion in March. * Average imports of goods and services decreased $0.2 billion to $237.3 billion in March. Year-over-year, the average goods and services deficit increased $3.1 billion from the three months ending in March 2016. * Average exports of goods and services increased $12.7 billion from March 2016. * Average imports of goods and services increased $15.8 billion from March 2016. Exports (Exhibits 3, 6, and 7) Exports of goods decreased $2.1 billion to $126.3 billion in March. Exports of goods on a Census basis decreased $1.8 billion. * Industrial supplies and materials decreased $1.8 billion. o Fuel oil decreased $0.6 billion. o Other petroleum products decreased $0.6 billion. * Automotive vehicles, parts, and engines decreased $0.9 billion. o Passenger cars decreased $0.8 billion. * Capital goods increased $0.7 billion. o Civilian aircraft engines increased $0.4 billion. o Telecommunications equipment increased $0.4 billion. Net balance of payments adjustments decreased $0.2 billion. Exports of services increased $0.4 billion to $64.7 billion in March. * Financial services increased $0.1 billion. * Maintenance and repair services increased $0.1 billion. Imports (Exhibits 4, 6, and 8) Imports of goods decreased $1.7 billion to $191.8 billion in March. Imports of goods on a Census basis decreased $1.7 billion. * Capital goods decreased $0.9 billion. o Civilian aircraft decreased $0.3 billion. o Computers decreased $0.2 billion. * Industrial supplies and materials decreased $0.7 billion. o Crude oil decreased $0.6 billion. o Other petroleum products decreased $0.4 billion. * Automotive vehicles, parts, and engines increased $1.1 billion. o Passenger cars increased $1.1 billion. Net balance of payments adjustments increased less than $0.1 billion. Imports of services decreased less than $0.1 billion to $42.9 billion in March. * Transport, which includes freight and port services and passenger fares, decreased $0.1 billion. Real Goods in 2009 Dollars – Census Basis (Exhibit 11) The real goods deficit increased less than $0.1 billion to $60.0 billion in March. * Real exports of goods decreased $1.9 billion to $122.4 billion. * Real imports of goods decreased $1.8 billion to $182.4 billion. Revisions Revisions to February exports * Exports of goods were revised downward $0.1 billion. * Exports of services were revised downward $0.1 billion. Revisions to February imports * Imports of goods were revised upward $0.1 billion. * Imports of services were revised downward $0.1 billion. Goods by Selected Countries and Areas: Monthly – Census Basis (Exhibit 19) The March figures show surpluses, in billions of dollars, with Hong Kong ($2.9), South and Central America ($2.6), Singapore ($0.5), United Kingdom ($0.5), and Brazil ($0.2). Deficits were recorded, in billions of dollars, with China ($31.4), European Union ($10.0), Mexico ($6.5), Japan ($6.5), Germany ($5.0), South Korea ($2.5), Italy ($2.1), Canada ($1.9), India ($1.7), OPEC ($1.6), Taiwan ($1.1), Saudi Arabia ($0.8), and France ($0.1). * The deficit with Japan increased $1.6 billion to $6.5 billion in March. Exports decreased $0.2 billion to $5.3 billion and imports increased $1.4 billion to $11.8 billion. * The deficit with South Korea increased $0.6 billion to $2.5 billion in March. Exports increased $0.1 billion to $3.9 billion and imports increased $0.8 billion to $6.5 billion. * The deficit with France decreased $1.2 billion to $0.1 billion in March. Exports increased $0.6 billion to $3.3 billion and imports decreased $0.6 billion to $3.5 billion. NOTICE Upcoming Updates to Goods and Services On June 2, 2017, 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 2017” (FT-900) and “U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services: Annual Revision for 2016.” With these releases, statistics on trade in goods, on both a Census basis and a balance of payments (BOP) basis, and on trade in services will be revised beginning with 2014. The revised statistics for goods on a BOP basis and for services will also be included in the “U.S. International Transactions: First Quarter 2017 and Annual Update” report and in the international transactions interactive database (www.bea.gov/iTable/index_ita.cfm), both to be released by BEA on June 20, 2017. Goods Revised statistics on trade in goods will reflect 1) corrections and adjustments to previously published not seasonally adjusted statistics for goods on a Census basis, 2) reclassifications of several end-use commodities, 3) revised seasonal and trading-day adjustments, and 4) 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. BOP adjustments are presented as net adjustments in the FT-900. Services Revised statistics on trade in services will reflect 1) newly available and revised source data, primarily from BEA’s surveys of international services transactions, 2) revised seasonal adjustments, and 3) revised temporal distributions of quarterly source data to monthly statistics (see the information section on page A-4 of the FT-900). If you have questions about the upcoming update, please contact BEA’s Balance of Payments Division at InternationalAccounts@bea.gov. Updates to the Real (Chained-Dollar) Series With the release of the FT-900 on June 2, 2017, the Census Bureau will revise export and import prices of telecommunications equipment beginning with 2002 to incorporate updated prices from the Federal Reserve Board’s Communications Equipment Price Indexes. This change will affect the categories Total Census Basis, Capital Goods, and Other Goods in Exhibit 10 of the FT-900 and in Exhibits 9 and 9a of the FT-900 Annual Revision and the categories Total Census Basis and Non-Petroleum in Exhibit 11 of the FT-900 and in Exhibit 10 of the FT-900 Annual Revision. The historical chained-dollar series, which begin in 1994, will also be revised as a result of the recalculated statistics for the base year (2009). If you have questions or need additional information, please see the Guide to Foreign Trade Statistics or contact the Census Bureau’s Economic Indicators Division on (800) 549-0595, option 4, or at eid.international.trade.data@census.gov. Change to OPEC With the release of the FT-900 on June 2, 2017, statistics for 2017 for the area grouping “OPEC” in Exhibits 20, 20a, and 20b of the FT-900 will exclude Indonesia, which suspended its membership on November 30, 2016. This change has already been implemented for Exhibits 14, 17a, and 19 of the FT-900 and for Exhibit 4 of the FT-900 Supplement with the March 7, 2017 release of the FT-900. NOTE: 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, revision procedures, and scheduled release dates through December 2017, see the information section on page A-1 of this release. The next release is June 2, 2017. NOTE: For definitions of goods on a balance of payments basis, goods on a Census basis, and net balance of payments adjustments, see the information section on page A-1 of this release.