EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 8:30 A.M. EDT, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6, 2018 CB 18-82, BEA 18-27 Goods Data Inquiries Goods Media Inquiries Services Data and Media Inquiries U.S. Census Bureau U.S. Census Bureau U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis Economic Indicators Division Public Information Office Balance of Payments Division International Trade (301) 763-3030 Data: (301) 278-9559 (301) 763-2311 pio@census.gov Media: (301) 278-9003 eid.international.trade.data@census.gov InternationalAccounts@bea.gov U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services Annual Update Notice In this release and in the accompanying “U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services: April 2018 (www.bea.gov/newsreleases/international/trade/2018/trad0418.htm)” release (FT-900), the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) are publishing revised statistics on trade in goods and services. With these releases, statistics on trade in goods on a Census basis are revised beginning with 2015, and statistics on trade in goods on a balance of payments (BOP) basis and on trade in services are revised beginning with 2010. BOP adjustments to Census-basis goods exports are revised beginning with statistics for 2010 to reflect the discontinuation of BOP adjustments for estimating exports through the Foreign Military Sales program. These adjustments have been discontinued because the Census-basis goods data now provide more complete coverage of these exports. Other revisions to BOP adjustments 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 FT-900 explanatory notes. Services exports are revised beginning with statistics for 2010 to reflect a new method for estimating goods and services transferred through military grant programs. Beginning with statistics for 2013, services exports and imports are also revised to reflect 1) newly available and revised source data, primarily from BEA’s surveys of international services transactions, 2) recalculated seasonal adjustments, and 3) revised temporal distributions of quarterly source data to monthly statistics (see the “Services” section in the FT-900 explanatory notes for more information). Statistics on trade in goods on a Census basis are revised beginning with statistics for 2015 to 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. On an annual basis for 2010–2017, the goods and services deficit was revised less than 1 percent for all years except for 2017 when it was revised down 3 percent. The goods deficit was revised down for most years but revised up for 2011 and 2015. The services surplus was revised down for 2010–2014 and up for 2015–2017. The revised statistics for goods on a BOP basis and for services will also be included in the “U.S. International Transactions: First Quarter 2018 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, 2018. A preview of BEA’s 2018 annual update of the international transactions accounts (www.bea.gov/scb/2018/05-may/0518-preview-2018-annual-update-international-economic-accounts.htm) was published in the May 2018 Survey of Current Business, BEA’s monthly online journal. If you have questions, please contact BEA, Balance of Payments Division, at InternationalAccounts@bea.gov. Change to the Real (Chained-Dollar) Series With this release and the release of the accompanying FT-900—and consistent with the release of the upcoming comprehensive update of the national income and product accounts (www.bea.gov/scb/2018/04-april/0418-preview-2018-comprehensive-nipa-update.htm)—the reference year for the chained-dollar series has been updated to 2012 from 2009 to reference the time series on prices from a more recent year. The historical chained-dollar series (www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/historical/index.html), which begin in 1994, have also been revised to reflect the new reference year. See the “Adjustments for price change” section in the FT-900 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.