Annual Trade Highlights

2012 Press Highlights

This page shows the Balance, Exports and Imports for the current month and prior month, along with the percent change and dollar change between the two. The last column of the table shows the last time the percent change (or dollar change) was larger. Some interesting facts about this month's International Trade in Goods and Services report can be found at the bottom of the page.

Goods and Services on a Balance of Payments (BOP) Basis, seasonally adjusted - series began with January 1992 statistics.

All Values in billions of dollars

Percent Change from Prior Year

	2012 (Billions of $)	2011 (Billions of $)	Percent Change from Prior Year	Last time the Increase/Decrease in Percent Change was larger/When it Occured
Goods and Services
Balance	-$540.4	-$559.9	-3.5%	-45.7% from 2008-2009
Exports	$2,195.9	$2,103.4	4.4%	14.2% from 2010-2011
Imports	$2,736.3	$2,663.2	2.7%	14.0% from 2010-2011
Goods (BOP Basis)
Balance	-$735.7	-$738.4	-0.4%	-39.1% from 2008-2009
Exports	$1,563.6	$1,497.4	4.4%	16.2% from 2010-2011
Imports	$2,299.3	$2,235.8	2.8%	15.6% from 2010-2011

 

Dollar Change From Prior Year

	2012 (Billions of $)	2011 (Billions of $)	Dollar Change From Prior Year	Last time the Increase/Decrease in Dollar Change was larger/When it Occured
Goods and Services
Balance	-$540.4	-$559.9	$19.5	$319.2 from 2008-2009
Exports	$2,195.9	$2,103.4	$92.6	$260.9 from 2010-2011
Imports	$2,736.3	$2,663.2	$73.0	$326.0 from 2010-2011
Goods (BOP Basis)
Balance	-$735.7	-$738.4	$2.7	$324.4 from 2008-2009
Exports	$1,563.6	$1,497.4	$66.2	$208.5 from 2010-2011
Imports	$2,299.3	$2,235.8	$63.5	$301.8 from 2010-2011

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• The 2012 services surplus ($195.3 billion) was the highest on record.
• The 2012 exports of goods and services ($2,195.9 billion), exports of goods ($1,563.6 billion),
  and exports of services ($632.3 billion) were the highest on record.
• The 2012 imports of goods and services ($2,736.3 billion), imports of goods ($2,299.3 billion),
  and imports of services ($437.0 billion) were the highest on record.

Goods on a Census Basis

Exports

• 2012 exports of goods ($1,547.1 billion) were the highest on record.
• The 2012 exports of foods, feeds, and beverages ($132.9 billion); industrial supplies and materials ($500.9 billion);
  capital goods ($526.7 billion); automotive vehicles ($146.0 billion); and consumer goods ($181.6 billion) were the highest on record.
• 2012 exports of petroleum ($123.8 billion) were the highest on record.

Imports

• 2012 imports of goods ($2,275.0 billion) were the highest on record.
• The 2012 imports of food, feeds, and beverages ($110.2 billion); capital goods ($548.2 billion);
  automotive vehicles ($297.7 billion); and consumer goods ($516.3 billion) were the highest on record.

Real Dollar Basis (2005 Chain-weighted Dollars, seasonally adjusted)

• The 2012 real dollar non-petroleum deficit ($486.2 billion) was the highest since 2007 ($526.5 billion).
• 2012 real dollar exports of petroleum ($67.4 billion) were the highest on record.
• 2012 real dollar imports of petroleum ($195.8 billion) were the lowest since 1997 ($190.3 billion).

Country and other highlights

• The 2012 deficit with Japan ($76.3 billion) was the highest since 2007 ($84.3 billion).
• The 2012 deficit with China ($315.1 billion), exports to China ($110.6 billion),
  and imports from China ($425.6 billion) were the highest on record.
• The 2012 deficit with the European Union ($115.7 billion) was the highest since 2006 ($118.6 billion).
• The 2012 surplus with Brazil ($11.6 billion) was the highest on record.
• The 2012 quantity of crude oil imports (3.1 billion barrels) was the lowest since 1997 (3.1 billion barrels).