The US trade deficit in November worsened, according to this morning's trade data from BEA. The overall deficit rose to $36.4 billion compared to the $33.2 billion level in October (revised). Exports grew by $1.2 billion but imports surged by $4.4 billion. Many of the news stories are highlighting the rise in petroleum imports (see Wall Street Journal), which surged by 7%. But the non-petroleum deficit also increased by 2%. The oil import increase was due to price increases, as the New York Times notes: "The average price for a barrel of imported oil rose to $72.54, the highest since October 2008, but volume was the lowest in more than 10 years."
The positive news is that our intangibles trade surplus increased slightly in November. Exports of business services and royalties exports (payments received) increased, as did imports (payments out) of royalties. Imports of business services actually declined. The November trade surplus in intangible was over $11.5 billion. The intangible trade balance has improved now for the past 7 months.
However, the other bad news is that our deficit in Advanced Technology Products surged in November, rising to a record (I believe) $8.3 billion. The increased deficit was due to an almost across the board drop in exports, especially in aerospace, biotechnology, and information and communications technologies. The last monthly surplus in Advanced Technology Products was in June 2002 and the last sustained series of monthly surpluses were in the first half of 2001.
Note: we define trade in intangibles as the sum of "royalties and license fees" and "other private services". The BEA/Census Bureau definitions of those categories are as follows:
Royalties and License Fees - Transactions with foreign residents involving intangible assets and proprietary rights, such as the use of patents, techniques, processes, formulas, designs, know-how, trademarks, copyrights, franchises, and manufacturing rights. The term "royalties" generally refers to payments for the utilization of copyrights or trademarks, and the term "license fees" generally refers to payments for the use of patents or industrial processes.
Other Private Services - Transactions with affiliated foreigners, for which no identification by type is available, and of transactions with unaffiliated foreigners. (The term "affiliated" refers to a direct investment relationship, which exists when a U.S. person has ownership or control, directly or indirectly, of 10 percent or more of a foreign business enterprise's voting securities or the equivalent, or when a foreign person has a similar interest in a U.S. enterprise.) Transactions with unaffiliated foreigners consist of education services; financial services (includes commissions and other transactions fees associated with the purchase and sale of securities and noninterest income of banks, and excludes investment income); insurance services; telecommunications services (includes transmission services and value-added services); and business, professional, and technical services. Included in the last group are advertising services; computer and data processing services; database and other information services; research, development, and testing services; management, consulting, and public relations services; legal services; construction, engineering, architectural, and mining services; industrial engineering services; installation, maintenance, and repair of equipment; and other services, including medical services and film and tape rentals.
The positive news is that our intangibles trade surplus increased slightly in November. Exports of business services and royalties exports (payments received) increased, as did imports (payments out) of royalties. Imports of business services actually declined. The November trade surplus in intangible was over $11.5 billion. The intangible trade balance has improved now for the past 7 months.
However, the other bad news is that our deficit in Advanced Technology Products surged in November, rising to a record (I believe) $8.3 billion. The increased deficit was due to an almost across the board drop in exports, especially in aerospace, biotechnology, and information and communications technologies. The last monthly surplus in Advanced Technology Products was in June 2002 and the last sustained series of monthly surpluses were in the first half of 2001.
Note: we define trade in intangibles as the sum of "royalties and license fees" and "other private services". The BEA/Census Bureau definitions of those categories are as follows:
Royalties and License Fees - Transactions with foreign residents involving intangible assets and proprietary rights, such as the use of patents, techniques, processes, formulas, designs, know-how, trademarks, copyrights, franchises, and manufacturing rights. The term "royalties" generally refers to payments for the utilization of copyrights or trademarks, and the term "license fees" generally refers to payments for the use of patents or industrial processes.
Other Private Services - Transactions with affiliated foreigners, for which no identification by type is available, and of transactions with unaffiliated foreigners. (The term "affiliated" refers to a direct investment relationship, which exists when a U.S. person has ownership or control, directly or indirectly, of 10 percent or more of a foreign business enterprise's voting securities or the equivalent, or when a foreign person has a similar interest in a U.S. enterprise.) Transactions with unaffiliated foreigners consist of education services; financial services (includes commissions and other transactions fees associated with the purchase and sale of securities and noninterest income of banks, and excludes investment income); insurance services; telecommunications services (includes transmission services and value-added services); and business, professional, and technical services. Included in the last group are advertising services; computer and data processing services; database and other information services; research, development, and testing services; management, consulting, and public relations services; legal services; construction, engineering, architectural, and mining services; industrial engineering services; installation, maintenance, and repair of equipment; and other services, including medical services and film and tape rentals.
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