Goods and Services

The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, through the Department
of Commerce, announced today that total April exports of $155.5 billion and imports of
$216.4 billion resulted in a goods and services deficit of $60.9 billion, up from $56.5
billion in March, revised.  April exports were $5.0 billion more than March exports of
$150.6 billion.  April imports were $9.4 billion more than March imports of $207.1 billion.

In April, the goods deficit increased $4.5 billion from March to $72.9 billion, and the
services surplus increased $0.1 billion to $12.0 billion.  Exports of goods increased
$4.5 billion to $109.6 billion, and imports of goods increased $9.1 billion to $182.5
billion.  Exports of services increased $0.4 billion to $46.0 billion, and imports of
services increased $0.3 billion to $34.0 billion.

In April, the goods and services deficit increased $0.6 billion from April 2007.  Exports
were up $25.0 billion, or 19.2 percent, and imports were up $25.7 billion, or 13.5 percent.

Goods

The March to April change in exports of goods reflected increases in capital goods
($2.2  billion); industrial supplies and materials ($1.1 billion); consumer goods
($0.8 billion); automotive vehicles, parts, and engines ($0.6 billion); and foods, feeds,
and beverages ($0.1 billion).  A decrease occurred in other goods ($0.1 billion).

The March to April change in imports of goods reflected increases in industrial supplies
and materials ($5.6 billion); capital goods ($1.2 billion); automotive vehicles, parts,
and engines ($1.0 billion); consumer goods ($0.7 billion); foods, feeds, and beverages
($0.3 billion); and other goods ($0.2 billion).

The April 2007 to April 2008 change in exports of goods reflected increases in industrial
supplies and materials ($7.3 billion); capital goods ($5.1 billion); foods, feeds, and
beverages ($3.2 billion); consumer goods ($1.5 billion); other goods ($0.5 billion); and
automotive vehicles, parts, and engines ($0.2 billion).

The April 2007 to April 2008 change in imports of goods reflected increases in industrial
supplies and materials ($16.6 billion); capital goods ($3.1 billion); consumer goods
($1.0 billion); other goods ($0.8 billion); and foods, feeds, and beverages ($0.8 billion).
Automotive vehicles, parts, and engines were virtually unchanged.

Services

Services exports increased $0.4 billion from March to April.  The increase was mostly
accounted for by increases in other transportation (which includes freight and port services),
transfers under U.S. military sales contracts, royalties and license fees, and travel.
Changes in other categories of services exports were small.

Services imports increased $0.3 billion from March to April.  The increase was mostly
accounted for by increases in other private services (which includes items such as business,
professional, and technical services, insurance services, and financial services), other
transportation, and travel.  Changes in other categories of services imports were small.

From April 2007 to April 2008, services exports increased $6.7 billion.  The largest
increases were in other private services ($2.7 billion), travel ($1.5 billion), and royalties
and license fees ($1.1 billion).  Within other private services, increases were largest in
business, professional, and technical services and in financial services.

From April 2007 to April 2008, services imports increased $3.1 billion.  The largest
increases were in other private services ($1.3 billion) and travel ($0.7 billion).  Within
other private services, increases were largest in business, professional, and technical
services and in insurance services.

Goods and Services Moving Average

For the three months ending in April, exports of goods and services averaged $153.2 billion,
while imports of goods and services averaged $212.5 billion, resulting in an average trade
deficit of $59.3 billion.  For the three months ending in March, the average trade deficit
was $58.3 billion, reflecting average exports of $151.4 billion and average imports of
$209.7 billion.

Selected Not Seasonally Adjusted Goods Details

The April figures showed surpluses, in billions of dollars, with Hong Kong $1.4 ($1.2 for March),
Singapore $1.4 ($1.5), Australia $0.8 ($1.5), and Egypt $0.3 ($0.4).  Deficits were recorded,
in billions of dollars, with China $20.2 ($16.1), OPEC $15.6 ($14.1), the European Union $8.5
($7.5), Japan $7.6 ($7.5), Canada $7.6 ($6.4), Mexico $6.8 ($6.0), Nigeria $3.4 ($3.3), Venezuela
$3.0 ($2.8), Korea $1.3 ($0.8), and Taiwan $0.9 ($0.3).

Advanced technology products (ATP) exports were $23.4 billion in April and imports were $28.7
billion, resulting in a deficit of $5.3 billion.  April exports were $1.2 billion less than
the $24.7 billion in March, while imports were $0.8 billion more than the $27.9 billion in March.

Revisions

Goods carry-over in April was $0.4 billion (0.3 percent) for exports and $0.8 billion
(0.5 percent) for imports.  For March, revised export carry-over was $0.1 billion
(0.1 percent), revised down from $0.4 billion (0.3 percent).  For March, revised import
carry-over was $0.2 billion (0.1 percent), revised down from $0.8 billion (0.5 percent).

Goods and services exports and imports for all months shown in this release reflect the
incorporation of annual revisions to the goods and services series in the U.S. international
transactions accounts.  See the “Notice” in this release for a description of major revisions
to goods and services exports and imports.

                                    Notice

In this release and the accompanying “U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services: Annual
Revision for 2007,” 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 2005-2007 and the first three months
of 2008 and revised data on services for 2004-2007 and the first three months of 2008.

Goods

The 2007 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 data.  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
2005-2007 and the first three months of 2008.  Similar changes were made to the chain-weighted
dollar series.  Also, the balance of payments adjustments to the Census-basis data have been
revised to incorporate updated source data.

Services

The services estimates were revised for 2004-2007 and the first three months of 2008.  The
revisions resulted largely from incorporation of results from BEA’s benchmark survey of U.S.
direct investment abroad for 2004 and its quarterly surveys of direct investment abroad for 2005,
as well as from its quarterly surveys of foreign direct investment in the United States for 2005,
from BEA’s benchmark survey of selected international services for 2006, and from BEA’s quarterly
surveys of selected international services beginning in the first quarter of 2007.  Revisions from
these sources have an impact mostly on receipts and payments for 2006-2007.  The revisions to
services receipts are larger than the revisions to services payments.  Most of the revisions are
to royalties and license fees and to “other private services.”  The revisions result from recent
BEA initiatives to better capture movements of large and volatile categories of transactions, as
well as to improve the coverage of transactions.

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