Effects of 2017 Atlantic Hurricanes on U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services

The effects of the recent hurricanes are embedded in the source data that the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and the U.S. Census Bureau use to produce trade in goods and services statistics. However, these effects generally cannot be isolated, and thus, BEA and the Census Bureau cannot separately quantify the impacts of the hurricanes. The impacts of hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria are reflected in the source data underlying this “U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services: October 2017” report and will be reflected in subsequent reports until normal trade activities resume in affected areas.

Goods

Below is information on the collection of statistics on trade in goods by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and possible scenarios for shipments directly impacted by the hurricanes, along with information regarding statistical procedures used to produce trade statistics.

  •  Transactions that are cleared through a customs port are included in the trade statistics per normal procedures. However, there may be instances in which power outages or inaccessibility to buildings
     delay reporting by affected filers.
  •  During port closures, export and import shipments may be diverted, amended, or canceled. Diverted import shipments may enter through another U.S. port or be transshipped through Mexico.
  •  The Census Bureau processes any corrections as usual per Census Bureau revision policy.
  •  Exports to and imports from a foreign country that leave or enter the U.S. customs territory in the U.S. Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico are included in U.S. international trade statistics. For more
     information, see the “U.S. Trade with Puerto Rico and U.S. Possessions” section of the Guide to Foreign Trade Statistics.

For further CBP guidance, please visit CBP’s Cargo Systems Messaging Service and search “hurricane.”

Census Bureau reports on trade through the Gulf Coast ports and on trade through Southeast ports are available at www.census.gov/foreign-trade/specialreports/gulfcoastports.pdf and www.census.gov/foreign-trade/specialreports/southeastports.pdf. Additional U.S. port data are available on USA Trade Online and on the International Trade API.

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.

Services

While BEA cannot separately quantify the impacts of the hurricanes on any specific service category, there are several possible impacts of the hurricanes on U.S. trade in services. For example, transport services may be affected by port closures and by diverted shipments. Travel expenditures and other services trade may be affected to the extent that service activities are interrupted. The effects of the hurricanes on insurance services, meanwhile, are likely to be small because BEA uses normal losses, rather than actual losses, to measure insurance services. For more information, see “What are the effects of hurricanes and other disasters on the international economic accounts?” The monthly statistics for the third and fourth quarters in this release are based on limited source data. More complete source data will be incorporated following the schedule outlined in “Revision Procedure (Goods on a BOP Basis and Services)” on page A-6 of this release.

More information on the effects of the hurricanes on the U.S. national and international accounts is available in “Gross Domestic Product: Third Quarter 2017 (Third Estimate)” and in “U.S. International Transactions: Third Quarter 2017,” both released by BEA.

If you have questions, please contact BEA, Balance of Payments Division, at InternationalAccounts@bea.gov.