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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
                                      December 2011


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 December exports of $178.8 billion and imports of $227.6
billion resulted in a goods and services deficit of $48.8 billion, up from $47.1 billion in
November, revised.  December exports were $1.2 billion more than November exports of $177.5
billion.  December imports were $3.0 billion more than November imports of $224.6 billion.

In December, the goods deficit increased $1.8 billion from November to $64.3 billion, and the
services surplus was virtually unchanged from November at $15.5 billion.  Exports of goods
increased $0.9 billion to $127.1 billion, and imports of goods increased $2.7 billion to
$191.4 billion.  Exports of services increased $0.3 billion to $51.7 billion, and imports of
services increased $0.3 billion to $36.2 billion.

The goods and services deficit increased $8.3 billion from December 2010 to December 2011.
Exports were up $14.8 billion, or 9.0 percent, and imports were up $23.1 billion, or 11.3
percent.

Goods (Census Basis)

The November to December increase in exports of goods reflected increases in industrial
supplies and materials ($1.0 billion); automotive vehicles, parts, and engines ($0.7 billion);
other goods ($0.3 billion); and foods, feeds, and beverages ($0.2 billion).  Decreases occurred
in consumer goods ($1.0 billion) and capital goods ($0.2 billion).

The November to December increase in imports of goods reflected increases in capital goods
($1.0 billion); consumer goods ($0.9 billion); automotive vehicles, parts, and engines ($0.5
billion); and industrial supplies and materials ($0.3 billion).  A decrease occurred in foods,
feeds, and beverages ($0.1 billion). Other goods were virtually unchanged.

The December 2010 to December 2011 increase in exports of goods reflected increases in
industrial supplies and materials ($6.0 billion); capital goods ($2.2 billion); automotive
vehicles, parts, and engines ($1.8 billion); consumer goods ($0.1 billion); other goods
($0.1 billion); and foods, feeds, and beverages ($0.1 billion).

The December 2010 to December 2011 increase in imports of goods reflected increases in
industrial supplies and materials ($9.2 billion); capital goods ($4.7 billion); automotive
vehicles, parts, and engines ($3.1 billion); consumer goods ($2.1 billion); foods, feeds, and
beverages ($1.1 billion); and other goods ($0.3 billion).

Services

Exports of services increased $0.3 billion from November to December.  The increase was mostly
accounted for by increases in royalties and license fees and travel.  Changes in the other
categories of services exports were small.

Imports of services increased $0.3 billion from November to December.  The increase was mostly
accounted for by increases in travel, other transportation (which includes freight and port
services), and passenger fares.  Changes in the other categories of services imports were small.

The December 2010 to December 2011 increase in exports of services was $4.0 billion. The
largest increases were in royalties and license fees ($1.5 billion), travel ($0.9 billion),
and other private services ($0.8 billion), which includes items such as business, professional,
and technical services, insurance services, and financial services.  Within other private
services the largest increase was in business, professional, and technical services.

The December 2010 to December 2011 increase in imports of services was $2.4 billion.  The
largest increases were in other private services ($1.1 billion), travel ($0.4 billion), and
other transportation ($0.4 billion).  Within other private services the largest increase was
in business, professional, and technical services.

Goods and Services Moving Average

For the three months ending in December, exports of goods and services averaged $178.5 billion,
while imports of goods and services averaged $224.8 billion, resulting in an average trade
deficit of $46.3 billion.  For the three months ending in November, the average trade deficit
was $44.6 billion, reflecting average exports of $179.1 billion and average imports of $223.8
billion.

Selected Not Seasonally Adjusted Goods Details

The December figures show surpluses, in billions of dollars, with Hong Kong $2.5 ($3.2 for
November), Australia $1.7 ($1.5), Singapore $1.3 ($1.0), and Egypt $0.2 ($0.1). Deficits were
recorded, in billions of dollars, with China $23.1 ($26.9), European Union $9.6 ($9.7), OPEC
$9.1 ($9.1), Japan $6.5 ($6.2), Mexico $4.9 ($5.5), Germany $4.8 ($4.7), Canada $3.9 ($3.0),
Ireland $2.8 ($2.8), Venezuela $2.0 ($1.9), Nigeria $1.3 ($2.3), Taiwan $0.8 ($1.4), and
Korea $0.5 ($1.3).

Advanced technology products exports were $26.2 billion in December and imports were $34.2
billion, resulting in a deficit of $8.0 billion.  December exports were $1.3 billion more than
the $24.9 billion in November, while December imports were $1.5 billion less than the $35.7
billion in November.

Revisions

The seasonally adjusted goods data, on both a Census basis and a balance of payments basis,
for January through November were revised to align the seasonally adjusted months with the
annual totals.

Census Basis (not seasonally adjusted)

For November, exports of goods were revised down $0.3 billion and imports of goods were
revised down $0.7 billion. Goods carry-over in December was $0.1 billion (0.0 percent) for
exports and $0.9 billion (0.5 percent) for imports.  For November, revised export carry-over
was virtually zero. For November, revised import carry-over was $0.2 billion (0.1 percent).

Balance of Payments Basis (seasonally adjusted)

For November, exports of goods were revised down $0.4 billion and imports of goods were
revised down $1.1 billion.

For November, both exports and imports of services were revised up $0.1 billion, reflecting
upward revisions in passenger fares and travel.

Annual Summary for 2011

Goods and Services

For 2011, exports of $2,103.1 billion and imports of $2,661.1 billion resulted in a goods and
services deficit of $558.0 billion, $58.0 billion more than the 2010 deficit of $500.0 billion.
For goods, exports were $1,498.2 billion and imports were $2,235.3 billion, resulting in a
goods deficit of $737.1 billion, $91.2 billion more than the 2010 deficit of $645.9 billion.
For services, exports were $604.9 billion and imports were $425.9 billion, resulting in a
services surplus of $179.0 billion, $33.2 billion more than the 2010 surplus of $145.8 billion.

The goods and services deficit was $558.0 billion in 2011, up from $500.0 billion in 2010.
As a percentage of U.S. gross domestic product, the goods and services deficit was 3.7 percent
in 2011, up from 3.4 percent in 2010.

Goods (Census basis)

For 2011, exports of goods were up $202.4 billion from 2010.  Increases occurred in industrial
supplies and materials ($107.7 billion); capital goods ($44.8 billion); automotive vehicles,
parts, and engines ($20.5 billion); foods, feeds, and beverages ($18.4 billion); consumer
goods ($10.4 billion); and other goods ($0.5 billion).

For 2011, imports of goods were up $293.8 billion from 2010.  Increases occurred in industrial
supplies and materials ($153.7 billion); capital goods ($61.8 billion); consumer goods ($30.4
billion); automotive vehicles, parts, and engines ($29.0 billion); foods, feeds, and beverages
($15.7 billion); and other goods ($3.2 billion).

Services

For 2011, exports of services were $604.9 billion, up $56.0 billion from 2010.  Increases
occurred in other private services ($20.8 billion), which includes items such as business,
professional, and technical services, insurance services, and financial services, royalties
and license fees ($14.2 billion), travel ($12.2 billion), passenger fares ($5.8 billion),
other transportation ($2.6 billion), which includes freight and port services, and transfers
under U.S. military sales contracts ($0.3 billion).  Within other private services the largest
increase was in business, professional, and technical services.  U.S. government miscellaneous
services were virtually unchanged.

For 2011, imports of services were $425.9 billion, up $22.8 billion from 2010.  Increases
occurred in other private services ($10.3 billion), passenger fares ($3.9 billion), travel
($3.8 billion), other transportation ($3.5 billion), and royalties and license fees ($2.2
billion).  Within other private services the largest increase was in business, professional,
and technical services.  Decreases occurred in direct defense expenditures ($0.6 billion) and
U.S. government miscellaneous services ($0.2 billion).

For detailed descriptions of the types of transactions included in each of the services
categories, see "Information on Goods and Services" starting on page A-1 of this release.

NOTICE

Effective with the release of the January 2012 statistics on March 9, 2012, the U.S. Census
Bureau (Census) and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) will implement the following
changes:

Changes to the Real (Chain-Weighted Dollar) Series

Census will begin seasonally adjusting selected export and import prices that previously were
not seasonally adjusted.  These prices are used in calculating the chain-weighted dollar
series that are presented in Exhibits 10 and 11.  Chain-weighted dollar statistics for 2010
and 2011 will be revised to reflect this new procedure.

This change will improve the overall quality of the chain-weighted dollar series by removing
identified seasonal patterns.  This change also improves consistency between the Census
chain-weighted dollar data and the chain-weighted dollar data published by BEA in the National
Income and Product Accounts.  For information on recent changes to BEA's seasonal adjustment
procedures, see "Annual Revision of the National Income and Product Accounts" in the August
2011 Survey of Current Business, p. 27.

If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact the Special Projects
Branch of the U.S. Census Bureau's Foreign Trade Division on (301) 763-3251.

Changes to Countries Featured in Exhibit 18 and in Supplemental Exhibit 3

Census and BEA will change the countries that are featured in Exhibit 18 and in Supplemental
Exhibit 3 in order to reflect a more comprehensive picture of current U.S. trade in motor
vehicles and parts and in crude oil, respectively.  The general structure of these exhibits
will remain unchanged.

For examples of the updated exhibits in Excel format, go to
www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/notices/20120210_exh18_exh3s.html.

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.

Changes to End-Use Commodity Category Descriptions

Census and BEA will change the descriptions of four end-use commodity categories
within consumer goods in order to better reflect the composition of these categories
as well as changes in technology.  These changes, listed below, will appear in
Exhibits 7 and 8.

Current Description			New Description

TV's, VCR's, etc.			Televisions and video equipment
Writing and art supplies 		Other consumer nondurables
Other household goods			Cell phones and other household goods, n.e.c.
Records, tapes, and disks	 	Recorded media

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.