U.S. International Services

Trade in Services and Services Supplied Through Affiliates in 2023

November 25, 2025

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) releases statistics on international services annually.¹ These statistics cover both U.S. international trade in services and services supplied by majority-owned U.S. and foreign affiliates of multinational enterprises (MNEs).² MNEs can serve foreign markets through trade, but they often provide services through their affiliates located in, or close to, the markets they serve because of the importance of physical proximity to customers in the delivery of certain types of services.³ For the basics on how international services are supplied to foreign and U.S. persons, including diagrams with examples, see the supplement to this article.

Chart 1 presents total U.S. international services supplied to foreign persons by U.S.-based firms and to U.S. persons by foreign-based firms for the most recent years for which statistics are available. Although BEA's most recently published annual statistics for trade in services are available through 2024, this article features an adjusted value of trade in services that incorporates the most recently published statistics for services supplied through affiliates, which are available through 2023.⁴ The trade in services statistics for 2018–2023 reflect revisions stemming from the incorporation of results of BEA's 2022 Benchmark Survey of Transactions in Selected Services and Intellectual Property With Foreign Persons as part of the 2025 annual update of the International Transactions Accounts. Statistics for 2020–2023 also reflect revisions stemming from the incorporation of other newly available and revised source data. Similarly, the statistics on services supplied through affiliates for 2022 reflect revisions stemming from the incorporation of newly available and revised source data.

In 2023, total services supplied by U.S.-based firms to foreign persons through both trade (adjusted) and sales by foreign affiliates of U.S. MNEs was $3.05 trillion, and total services supplied to the United States by foreign-based firms through both trade and sales by U.S. affiliates of foreign MNEs was $1.97 trillion.
In 2023, services supplied to foreign persons through foreign affiliates of U.S. MNEs and services supplied to U.S. persons through U.S. affiliates of foreign MNEs increased 5 percent and 3 percent, respectively. Both series set record-high levels for the third consecutive year.⁵
In 2023, services supplied to foreign persons through trade (adjusted) and services supplied to U.S. persons through trade (adjusted) increased 7 percent and 8 percent, respectively.

Chart 1. U.S. International Services Supplied, 2021–2023

[Click chart to expand]

Coverage of BEA's International Services Statistics

BEA's international services statistics can be accessed through BEA's Interactive Data Application. These statistics cover both U.S. international trade in services and services supplied by majority-owned U.S. and foreign affiliates of MNEs. These two measures of international services are combined in table 1.1 (as with chart 1 in this article) to present total international services supplied to foreign persons by U.S.-based firms to U.S. persons by foreign-based firms.

BEA's remaining international services tables are organized into three sections: (1) U.S. trade in services, (2) services supplied through affiliates, and (3) services trade by enterprise characteristics (STEC).

U.S. trade in services

These statistics cover U.S. exports and imports of services—that is, services traded between U.S. residents and nonresidents—that are included in the broader set of U.S. International Transactions Accounts (ITAs) released by BEA. These statistics feature a standard presentation and supplementary statistics on trade in information and communications technology (ICT) and digitally deliverable services. They are released annually in July.

BEA's standard presentation of trade in services includes breakdowns by service type and by trading partner or affiliation (tables 2.1–2.4).
BEA also publishes an alternative aggregation of trade in ICT and digitally deliverable services (tables 3.1–3.3). ICT services refers to services that facilitate information processing and communication. Digitally deliverable services (previously called potentially ICT-enabled services) includes service types that can predominantly be delivered remotely over ICT networks, without identifying the services that are delivered over ICT networks.

Services supplied through affiliates

These statistics cover services supplied by MNEs through the channel of direct investment. They include services supplied by majority-owned foreign affiliates of U.S. MNEs to foreign residents, both in the host country and in other foreign markets (tables 4.1–4.4) and services supplied by majority-owned U.S. affiliates of foreign MNEs to U.S. residents (tables 5.1–5.4). Services supplied through affiliates statistics are typically released annually in October. These statistics are consistent with services supplied statistics published in BEA's statistics on the activities of multinational enterprises (“AMNE statistics”), except the AMNE statistics primarily focus on services supplied to all customers, regardless of the residency of the customer.

Services trade by enterprise characteristics

STEC statistics provide insight on the industry, firm ownership type, and employment size class of U.S. firms that trade services (tables 6.1–6.4). STEC statistics are published annually at the same time as BEA's standard presentation of trade in services statistics in July. STEC statistics are limited to a subset of “selected” international services trade categories collected on BEA surveys that cover most trade between businesses and are prepared by linking BEA's trade in services data to BEA's extensive data on the finances and operations of MNEs.¹ More information on BEA's STEC statistics is available in the article “A Profile of U.S. Services Traders, 2006–2022” and in the FAQ “What information does the Bureau of Economic Analysis publish on services trade by enterprise characteristics (STEC)?” on BEA's website.

International services statistics can also be accessed through BEA's Data Application Programming Interface within the “IntlServTrade” (tables 1.1–3.3) and “IntlServSTA” (tables 4.1–5.4) data sets. For more resources, such as links to definitions and surveys, see the international services product page on the BEA website. BEA's international services statistics are also discussed in detail, including descriptions of data sources, a comparison of U.S. trade in services and services supplied through affiliates, and a listing of the categories of services from BEA's published statistics that are classified as ICT and digitally deliverable, in chapter 31 of U.S. International Economic Accounts: Concepts and Methods.

Previously, these data were presented as “characteristics of firms that trade services,” but in May 2024, their title was updated to “services trade by enterprise characteristics (STEC)” to better align with terminology used in emerging international statistical guidance and by key trading partners.

Improvements to the International Services Statistics

BEA continues to improve its statistics on international services. Some changes have now been implemented, and others are underway.

Updates to the presentation and timeliness of international services statistics in 2025

A new table—“Table 2.4. U.S. Trade in Services, Expanded Geographic Detail”—was introduced, which presents total services exports, total imports, and the balance for 237 countries and areas, 147 more than the 90 listed separately in tables 2.2 and 2.3, beginning with statistics for 2018.
Geographic and affiliation-type detail was added in tables 2.2 and 2.3 for “postal services” and “road and other transport,” which are categories within transport services, and in tables 2.2, 2.3, and 3.2 for audiovisual services related to movies and television programming and audiovisual services related to books and sound recordings, which are categories within personal, cultural, and recreational services. The new detail begins with statistics for 2018.
The availability of statistics on trade in services by service type and by employment size class in table 6.4 was accelerated, eliminating a 2-year lag relative to BEA's other detailed trade in services statistics.

Future enhancements to the international services statistics

Expanded detail about U.S. services traders. BEA continues to explore more ways to expand the coverage of its STEC statistics. Since first publishing limited information on the characteristics of firms that trade services in 2012, BEA has expanded its data offerings to include a wider range of services and firm characteristics. Future enhancements include more detailed statistics on trade in services by industry, firm ownership type, and employment size class, with coverage of additional service types and greater inclusion of non-MNEs. In addition, BEA is researching methods to produce statistics featuring new characteristics of services traders, such as the U.S. state where services are performed (exports) or purchased (imports).
Updates to the industry classification for services supplied through affiliates. Statistics on services supplied through affiliates by industry are classified according to International Surveys Industry (ISI) classifications that are adapted by BEA from the most recent North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Reflecting the changes made to the NAICS for 2022 to deemphasize the delivery method (for example, electronic versus in person) as an industry function, BEA's ISI classifications were significantly updated for the retail trade and information sectors.¹ For services supplied to U.S. persons by foreign MNEs, these updates were incorporated for statistics starting in 2022, resulting in industry reclassifications in international services tables 5.1 and 5.3. Similar changes will be incorporated in October 2026 for services supplied to foreign persons by U.S. MNEs in international services tables 4.1 and 4.3 for statistics starting in 2024.

For additional information, see BEA, Guide to Industry Classifications for International Surveys 2022 (Washington, DC: BEA, April 2022).

The trade in services component of the international services statistics is released in July, and the services supplied through affiliates component is typically released in October of each year.
The term “affiliates” in this article refers to majority-owned affiliates. The statistics on services supplied through affiliates cover the full value of services provided by majority-owned affiliates, irrespective of the percentage of ownership.
The statistics on trade in services and services supplied through affiliates are not directly comparable, because of differences in coverage and classification. For example, wholesale and retail trade distributive services are included in services supplied through affiliates but not in trade in services statistics. For more information, see “Definition of International Services” on BEA's website.
This adjustment is made so that total international services supplied statistics better reflect services supplied to foreign persons by U.S.-based firms and services supplied to the United States by foreign-based firms. For more information, see the box “Refinements to the Calculation of Total International Services Supplied” in Shari A. Allen and Maryam Fatima, “U.S. International Services: Trade in Services in 2021 and Services Supplied Through Affiliates in 2020,” Survey of Current Business 102 (October 2022).
In 2020, both types of international services were affected by the COVID–19 pandemic, though it is not possible to say with precision how much of the decreases in these series were due to the pandemic and how much were due to other factors.