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What the 2025 totals say
The annual goods-and-services summary from the U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis reports that exports increased $199.8 billion from 2024 and imports increased $197.8 billion. The deficit narrowed by $2.1 billion. These annual figures are seasonally adjusted and stated on a BOP basis; the underlying release was issued February 19, 2026.
| 2025 measure | Exports | Imports | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goods and services, BOP basis; seasonally adjusted, billions of dollars | $3,432.3 billion | $4,333.8 billion | −$901.5 billion |
| Goods only, Census basis; nominal, not seasonally adjusted, millions of dollars | $2,179,891.4 million | $3,414,510.6 million | −$1,234,619.1 million |
The second row is the Census Bureau’s 2025 world table, accessed in 2026. It is not an alternative reading of the first row: it excludes services and uses a different statistical basis and seasonal treatment. The annual revision released June 9, 2026 revised goods data back to 2021 and services data back to 1999, using corrections, end-use reclassifications, recalculated seasonal adjustments, and updated BOP source data. Use revised tables when comparing years.
What counts as an import or export?
Goods and services cover different transactions
Census-basis goods statistics track merchandise moving between foreign countries and the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and U.S. foreign-trade zones, subject to specific exclusions. Services statistics estimate cross-border services transactions for the defined U.S. geography. The BOP goods-and-services series adjusts Census goods data to supplement coverage, remove duplication in international accounts, and align valuation with economic-accounting concepts.
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Total exports include re-exports
Domestic exports include U.S.-grown, produced, or manufactured goods, as well as qualifying foreign-origin goods that were processed or improved in the United States. Re-exports are foreign-origin goods previously entered or admitted to a U.S. foreign-trade zone and shipped onward without substantial change. Total exports are domestic exports plus re-exports.
Import categories and valuation differ
General imports count goods arriving into consumption channels, warehouses, or foreign-trade zones. Imports for consumption count merchandise physically cleared through customs, including withdrawals from bonded warehouses and foreign-trade zones. Import statistics use HTSUSA classifications; export statistics use Schedule B, a Census-maintained schedule based on the international Harmonized System.
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Import customs value generally excludes duties, freight, insurance, and other costs of bringing goods to the United States. Export value is measured free alongside ship (F.A.S.) at the U.S. port of export, including the transaction price and costs to place goods alongside the carrier. The two raw goods values therefore do not use identical valuation conventions.
How to read the components of trade
Start with goods versus services
The broad annual balance separates goods and services, while the goods-only tables allow closer examination of merchandise. Services are reported by major category; goods are shown in aggregate and in more detailed end-use and commodity groupings. Keep the goods-only and combined goods-and-services figures in separate comparisons unless the difference in scope is explicit.
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Principal end-use categories group goods by their main economic use, making them useful for seeing broad components of imports and exports. Commodity schedules provide more granular product classifications: imports use HTSUSA and exports use Schedule B. The Census Bureau publishes detailed goods end-use and commodity tables, as well as petroleum and non-petroleum totals, motor vehicles and parts, and advanced-technology products. Some detailed commodity values may be suppressed or aggregated to protect confidential information.
Choose the right time series and geography
The official trade releases also provide real chained-dollar views, country and area series, and monthly end-use data. Census’s historical end-use page includes monthly import and export category files from 1992 onward and annual country-by-five-digit-end-use data from 2016 through 2025. For country comparisons, identify whether the figures are Census-basis goods or BOP-basis goods and services; the FT900 presents separate geography exhibits for those measures.
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How to make an apples-to-apples comparison
Before drawing a conclusion from two trade figures, check that each uses the same:
- Scope: goods only or goods and services.
- Statistical basis: Census basis or BOP basis.
- Units: nominal dollars or real chained dollars.
- Seasonal treatment: seasonally adjusted or not seasonally adjusted.
- Import definition: general imports or imports for consumption.
- Period: full year, month, or year to date.
Also check the table’s geography, release date, and revision status. Monthly Census reports and the FT900 exhibits are updated as new reports are published, and previously reported observations can change. The June 9, 2026 annual revision, for example, revised goods history from 2021 and services history from 1999.
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Official tables and definitions
- Census Bureau and BEA annual trade summary — the annual goods-and-services figures and release information.
- Census Bureau historical trade tables — goods tables and related historical series.
- 2025 annual revision release — revision details and updated annual tables.
- Census Bureau international trade definitions — definitions of exports, imports, and related terms.
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