


                         United States Department of
                                COMMERCE NEWS
                            Washington, D.C. 20230

                                 ECONOMICS
                                    AND
                                 STATISTICS
                               ADMINISTRATION
                                ------------
                            Bureau of the Census
                         Bureau of Economic Analysis
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      
                                
                                
                                
This release contains sensitive economic data not to be released before
8:30 a.m.Thursday,
June 21, 2001                                  
                                
CB-01-104 Press Copy 
FT-900 (01-04)

For information on goods contact:
Bureau of the Census:
Haydn R. Mearkle (301) 457-2246 
Nick Orsini      (301) 457-2311

For information on services contact:
Bureau of Economic Analysis:
Technical:  Christopher Bach (202) 606-9545
Media:  Larry Moran          (202) 606-2649


                 U.S. INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN GOODS AND SERVICES
                                   April 2001

Goods and Services

The Bureau of the Census and the Bureau of Economic Analysis, through the
Department of Commerce, announced today that total April exports of $86.9
billion and imports of $119.1 billion resulted in a goods and services
deficit of $32.2 billion, $0.9 billion less than the $33.1 billion in March,
revised.  April exports were $1.8 billion less than March exports of $88.7
billion.  April imports were $2.7 billion less than March imports of $121.8
billion.

In April, the goods deficit decreased $0.9 billion from March to $37.8
billion, and the services surplus was virtually unchanged at $5.7 billion. 
Exports of goods decreased to $62.1 billion from $63.9 billion, and imports
of goods decreased to $100.0 billion from $102.7 billion.  Exports of
services were virtually unchanged at $24.8 billion, and imports of services
were virtually unchanged at $19.1 billion.

Goods
     
The March to April change in exports of goods reflected decreases in capital
goods ($1.5 billion); industrial supplies and materials ($0.4 billion);  and
foods, feeds, and beverages ($0.1 billion). Increases occurred in other goods
($0.1 billion) and consumer goods ($0.1 billion).  Automotive vehicles, parts,
and engines were virtually unchanged.
 
The March to April change in imports of goods reflected decreases in capital
goods ($2.8 billion) and consumer goods ($1.2 billion).  Increases occurred
in automotive vehicles, parts, and engines ($0.6 billion); other goods
($0.4 billion); and industrial supplies and materials ($0.2 billion). Foods,
feeds, and beverages were virtually unchanged.

Services
     
Services exports in April were virtually the same as in March.  Small
decreases in other private services (which includes items such as business,
professional, and technical services and financial services) and travel were
mostly offset by a small increase in passenger fares. 

Services imports in April were also virtually the same as in March.  A
decrease in travel was mostly offset by an increase in passenger fares.

Goods and Services Moving Average 

For the three months ending in April, exports of goods and services averaged
$88.7 billion, while imports of goods and services averaged $120.0 billion,
resulting in an average trade deficit of $31.3 billion.  For the three months
ending in March, the average trade deficit was $31.7 billion, reflecting
average exports of $89.8 billion and average imports of $121.4 billion.

Selected Not Seasonally Adjusted Goods Details 

The April figures showed surpluses, in billions of dollars, with Hong Kong
$0.7 (for March $0.6), Australia $0.3 ($0.5), Brazil $0.2 ($0.2), Argentina
$0.1 ($0.1), and Egypt $0.1 ($0.4).  Deficits were recorded, in  billions
of dollars, with Japan -$6.4 (-$6.2), China -$6.3 (-$5.7), Western Europe
-$5.8 (-$4.7), Canada -$4.6 (-$4.3), OPEC -$3.7 (-$3.2), Mexico -$2.2
(-$2.8), Taiwan -$1.2 (-$1.5), Korea -$1.2 (-$0.9), and Singapore -$0.1
(surplus of $0.3).

Advanced technology products (ATP) exports were $16.6 billion in April and
imports were $16.2 billion resulting in a surplus of $0.4 billion.  April
exports were $4.0 billion less than the $20.6 billion in March, while imports
were $2.4 billion less than the $18.6 billion in March.

Revisions
     
Goods carry-over in April was $0.3 billion (0.5 percent) for exports and
$0.6 billion (0.6 percent) for imports.  For March, revised export carry-over
was virtually zero, revised down from $0.1 billion (0.1 percent).  For March,
revised import carry-over was $0.1 billion (0.1 percent), revised down from
$0.4 billion (0.4 percent).

Goods and services exports and imports for the month of March and for all
months shown in this release reflect the incorporation of annual revisions
to the U.S. international transactions accounts.  See the "Notice" in this
release for a description of the major revisions to services exports and
imports.
                       
                                   NOTICE

In this release, the Bureau of the Census and the Bureau of Economic Analysis
(BEA) are jointly publishing revised data on U.S. international trade in goods
and services for 1999, 2000, and the first quarter of 2001.  The data in this
release are also reflected in today's joint release of "U.S. International
Trade in Goods and Services: Annual Revision for 2000," and today's BEA
release of U.S. International Transactions: First Quarter 2001.  More detailed
information on U.S. international transactions, which were revised for 1989-
2000, will be available on BEA's website <www.bea.doc.gov> approximately one
week after this release and in the July issue of the Survey of Current
Business.

Goods

The 2000 unadjusted Census-basis goods data were revised to eliminate
"carry-over" (that portion of the monthly statistics that arrives too late
for inclusion in the transaction month) and to include errata (corrections
to the published monthly data).  Once these corrections were completed,
factors for seasonal adjustments and trading-day adjustments were recomputed,
and the seasonally adjusted current-dollar series were revised for 1989-2000
and the first quarter of 2001.  Similar changes were made to the constant-
dollar series, which were revised for 1998-2000 and the first quarter of 2001.    

Several additional changes were made to improve the consistency of the
current-dollar series from 1989-2000 and the first quarter of 2001.  First,
cellular phones were reclassified to consumer goods and off-the-road
construction vehicles were reclassified to capital goods and the reclassifi-
cations were carried back to 1989; these changes have a large impact on
individual end-use commodity categories in 1998-2000, but their impact in
earlier years is small.  Other end-use reclassifications made in January 2001
were also carried back to 1989.  Second, the methodological change to adjust
series for trading day variation at the 5-digit end-use level, first
introduced last year for 1997-2000, is now applied to 1989-1996.  This change
allows a consistent application of trading-day and seasonal factors to the
most detailed level of unadjusted data available.  Third, estimates of the
balance of payments adjustments to the Census-basis data were improved for
1989-2000; the changes are largest for 1997 and for 1989-1991, and are very
small in other years.

Services

Revisions to the services accounts resulted from the incorporation of results
from BEA's quarterly and annual surveys, from BEA's Benchmark Survey of
Foreign Direct Investment in the United States for 1997, and from other newly
available and updated source data.  The estimates of travel exports included
significant revisions in the second half of 2000.  The estimates of other
private services imports included significant revisions to business, pro-
fessional, and technical services for 1999-2000.  The estimates of other
private services payments included significant revisions to insurance for
1999-2000.




     
                       Table of Contents

Seasonally Adjusted

Exhibit 1   International Trade in Goods and Services. . . . . . .......4

Exhibit 2   Goods and Services Centered Three - Month Moving Averages...5

Exhibit 3   U.S. Services by Major Category--Exports . . . . . .........6

Exhibit 4   U.S. Services by Major Category--Imports . . . . . .........7

Exhibit 5   U.S. Trade in Goods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .........8

Exhibit 6   Exports and Imports of Goods by Principal End-Use
            Category....................................................9

Exhibit 7   Exports of Goods by End-Use Category and Commodity ........10

Exhibit 8   Imports of Goods by End-Use Category and Commodity ........12

Exhibit 9   Petroleum and Non-Petroleum End-Use Category Totals .......14

Exhibit 10  Exports and Imports of Goods by Principal End-Use
            Category (Constant Dollars) . . . . . . . .................15

Exhibit 11  Exports, Imports, and Balance of Goods, Petroleum and
            Non-Petroleum End-Use Commodity Category Totals
            (Constant Dollars).........................................16

Not Seasonally Adjusted

Exhibit 12  U.S. Trade in Goods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........17

Exhibit 13  Exports and Imports of Goods by Principal
            End-Use Category...........................................18


Exhibit 14  Exports, Imports, and Balance of Goods by Selected  
            Countries and Areas   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .........19

Exhibit 15  Exports and Imports of Goods by Principal SITC Commodity
            Groupings..................................................21

Exhibit 16  Exports, Imports, and Balance of Advanced Technology
            Products...................................................23

Exhibit 17  Imports of Energy - Related Petroleum Products, 
            Including Crude Petroleum . . . . . . . . . . . . ........ 24

Exhibit 18  Exports and Imports of Motor Vehicles and Parts By
            Selected Countries.........................................25

Information on Goods and Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........26


SOURCE: Report FT900 (CB-01-104), Bureau of the Census, Foreign Trade
        Division, April 2001.  For more information, contact Haydn R. 
        Mearkle (301-457-2246) or Nick Orsini (301-457-2311), Foreign 
        Trade Division.           


                         
                                 


