Bureau of Economic Analysis

BEA has significantly expanded its global value chain statistics to help policymakers and the public better understand international supply chains. 

Global value chain statistics lay out the mix of domestic and imported value included in the cross-border production chains of goods and services. They are also known as statistics measuring trade in value added.

Percent change in real disposable personal income. In May 2026, real disposable personal income increased 0.3 percent.

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.1 percent in the first quarter of 2026 (January, February, and March), according to the third estimate released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the fourth quarter of 2025, real GDP increased 0.5 percent. The contributors to the increase in real GDP in the first quarter were increases in investment, exports, government spending, and consumer spending. Imports,…

The U.S. current-account deficit resulting from international economic transactions widened by $5.8 billion, or 2.6 percent, to $226.8 billion in the first quarter of 2026, according to statistics released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. The revised fourth-quarter deficit was $221.1 billion. The first-quarter deficit was 2.9 percent of current-dollar gross domestic product, up from 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter.

Build custom tables and charts from BEA's distribution of personal income statistics with BEA’s newest data analysis tool.

A blog post from BEA Director Vipin Arora 

I’m sure many of us remember playing the “don’t say it” game. Someone picks a word to avoid, and the first person to utter that word loses. Can you imagine how quickly the game would end these days if the word was AI? 

Expenditures by foreign direct investors to acquire, establish, or expand U.S. businesses totaled $232.2 billion in 2025, according to preliminary statistics released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Expenditures increased $76.8 billion, or 49.5 percent, from 2024 levels. As in previous years, acquisitions of existing U.S. businesses accounted for most of the expenditures.

The U.S. monthly international trade deficit decreased in April 2026 according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the U.S. Census Bureau. The deficit decreased from $56.6 billion in March (revised) to $55.9 billion in April, as exports increased more than imports. The goods deficit decreased $2.4 billion in April to $83.7 billion. The services surplus decreased $1.7 billion in April to $27.8 billion.

In this release and in the accompanying “U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, April 2026” release (FT–900), the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) are publishing revised statistics on trade in goods and services. With these releases, statistics on trade in goods are revised beginning with 2021, and statistics on trade in services are revised beginning with 1999.

A blog post from BEA Director Vipin Arora

When my kids were younger, they always asked me how things are made. I usually didn’t know. My own dad’s playbook for these questions was saying “I forgot.” I guess I’ve forgotten a lot over the years, too. That said, understanding how things are made is critical to making them better, and ultimately to driving economic growth.