U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services - Annual Revision for 2008

Release date: June 10, 2009

Contents:

• Notices
  • Goods
  • Services
• Full Report
• Individual Exhibits

Notices

In this release and the accompanying “U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services: April 2009,” the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) are jointly publishing revised data on U.S. trade in goods for 2001-2008 and for the first three months of 2009 and revised data on services for 2006-2008 and for the first three months of 2009.

This annual revision has not changed the overall trend in the goods and services balance. For 2001-2007, the goods and services deficit is revised less than 1 percent each year. For 2008, the goods and services deficit is revised up $14.8 billion, or 2.2 percent.

• Goods:

  The 2008 not seasonally adjusted Census-basis goods data were revised to redistribute monthly data that arrived too late for inclusion in the month of transaction but that were included, initially, in the month in which the data were received. In addition, corrections were made to previously published 2008 data. Also, goods export data from January 2004 through December 2008 were revised as a result of analysis of the aircraft industry. Once the redistributions of data to the proper month of transaction and corrections were completed, factors for seasonal adjustment and trading day adjustments were recomputed and the seasonally adjusted current-dollar series were revised for 2006-2008 and the first three months of 2009. Similar changes were made to the chain-weighted dollar series. The chain-weighted dollar series has also been revised using 2005 as the base year.
  
  Beginning with 2001, a new balance of payments adjustment to Census-basis imports has been added to improve the coverage of locomotives and railcars. Other import adjustments have been revised for 2008 based on updated source data. The export adjustment for transfers under U.S. military agency sales contracts has been revised beginning with 2002 because of a change in methodology, and other export adjustments have been revised beginning with 2007 based on updated source data.

• Services:

  The services estimates were revised for 2006-2008 and for the first three months of 2009. The revisions resulted largely from the incorporation of updated results from BEA’s benchmark survey of selected international services for 2006, updated results from BEA’s quarterly surveys of international services beginning with the first quarter of 2007, and new information on transfers under U.S. military agency sales contracts beginning with 2006. The BEA surveys cover transactions in royalties and license fees and other private services. On an annual basis, the revisions to services receipts are larger than the revisions to services payments.

• Data revised with the 2008 Annual Revision but not part of the exhibits listed below is available.

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