Changes to End-Use Classifications

With this release of the “U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services” report (FT-900), the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) have revised the end-use classifications of several commodities. These changes were made to achieve a consistent classification between goods exports and goods imports and to improve the grouping of the commodities based on their end-use characteristics. The changes also reflect the results of work performed by the World Customs Organization (WCO) as part of its long-term program to review and update the nomenclature of the international Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (Harmonized System) from which the end-use commodity classifications are derived. The last WCO modifications to the Harmonized System were introduced in March 2017 with January 2017 statistics. These reclassifications will also be incorporated into statistics for 2019–2021 with the June 7, 2022, releases of the FT-900 and the FT-900 Annual Revision.