Follow the Money

Quarterly disclosure with a quarter lag doesn't add much to the numbers already provided in the balance of payments (especially if it isn't clear what is being disclosed). Semi-annual disclosure provides less information than what's already available in the balance of payments.

Stalled export growth is more a function of the strong dollar than of Trump's trade wars. U.S. non-petrol exports haven't grown over the last five years.

Most grandiose explanations for the United States' persistent surplus in the income balance of the U.S. current account miss the mark. The U.S. debt position tracks the sum of past current account deficits, and the interest rate on that debt tracks the U.S. Treasury rate. The surplus in the income line all comes from the excess income U.S. firms report earning in a few corporate tax havens.