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Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Rose 7.4 Percent from January 2007

(State Rankings in Tables 5 and 7)

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Contact
BTS 15-08
Dave Smallen
202-366-5568

Monday, March 31, 2008 - Trade using surface transportation between the United States and its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners, Canada and Mexico, was 7.4 percent higher in January 2008 than in January 2007, reaching $65.2 billion, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) of the U.S. Department of Transportation (Table 1).

The value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico rose 7.0 percent in January from December (Table 2). Month-to-month changes can be affected by seasonal variations and other factors.

Surface transportation consists largely of freight movements by truck, rail and pipeline. About 90 percent of U.S. trade by value with Canada and Mexico moves on land.

The value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico in January was up 48.9 percent compared to January 2003, and up 89.2 percent compared to January 1998, a period of 10 years (Table 3). Imports in January were up 99.7 percent compared to January 1998, while exports were up 77.2 percent.

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Canada

U.S.-Canada surface transportation trade totaled $42.0 billion in January, up 8.6 percent compared to January 2007 (Table 4). The value of imports carried by truck was 1.7 percent lower in January 2008 than January 2007, while the value of exports carried by truck was 11.0 percent higher.

Michigan led all states in surface trade with Canada in January with $5.3 billion (Table 5).

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Mexico

U.S.-Mexico surface transportation trade totaled $23.1 billion in January, up 5.4 percent compared to January 2007 (Table 6). The value of imports carried by truck was 3.7 percent higher in January 2008 than January 2007 while the value of exports carried by truck was 2.9 percent higher.

Texas led all states in surface trade with Mexico in January with $7.5 billion (Table 7).

The TransBorder Freight Data are a unique subset of official U.S. foreign trade statistics released by the U.S. Census Bureau. New data are tabulated monthly and historical data are not adjusted for inflation. January TransBorder numbers include data received by BTS as of March 11.

The news release and summary tables can be found at www.bts.gov. More information on TransBorder Freight Data and data from previous months are posted on the BTS website at http://www.bts.gov/transborder/. BTS will release February TransBorder numbers on April 30.

Table 1. Value of Monthly U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Canada and Mexico

(millions of dollars)

Excel | CSV

Month 2006 2007 2008 Percent Change 2006-2007 Percent Change 2007-2008
January 61,189 60,649 65,160 -0.9 7.4
February 59,804 59,667   -0.2  
March 68,213 69,768   2.3  
April 61,742 65,015   5.3  
May 65,994 69,423   5.2  
June 66,898 69,526   3.9  
July 55,939 61,823   10.5  
August 66,354 69,158   4.2  
September 63,295 66,771   5.5  
October 66,846 74,249   11.1  
November 64,805 70,352   8.6  
December 59,049 60,902   3.1  
Annual  760,127 797,303   4.9  

Source: BTS TransBorder Freight Data, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding. Percent changes based on numbers prior to rounding.

Table 2. U.S. Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico by Mode of Transportation

(millions of dollars)

Excel | CSV

Mode   January
2007
December
2007
January
2008
Percent Change
Dec. 2007 – Jan. 2008
Percent Change
January 2007-2008
All Surface Modes Imports 35,009 34,497 36,648 6.2 4.7
Exports 25,640 26,405 28,512 8.0 11.2
Total 60,649 60,902 65,160 7.0 7.4
Truck Imports 22,308 20,892 22,495 7.7 0.8
Exports 20,288 19,775 21,887 10.7 7.9
Rail Imports 6,864 7,137 6,630 -7.1 -3.4
Exports 3,034 3,836 3,827 -0.2 26.1
Pipeline Imports 4,298 5,116 6,006 17.4 39.7
Exports 295 466 418 -10.3 41.8

Source: BTS TransBorder Freight Data, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding. Percent changes based on numbers prior to rounding. The value of trade for all surface modes is not equal to the sum of truck, rail and pipeline modes, it also includes shipments made by mail, foreign trade zones, other and unknown modes of transportation.  For additional detail refer to the “Data Fields” Section of the TransBorder web page: http://www.bts.gov/transborder/TBDR_DataFields.html.

Table 3. January 2008 Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Compared with January of Prior Years

Excel | CSV

Compared to January in… Percent Change
Imports Exports Total Surface Trade
2007 4.7 11.2 7.4
2006 1.7 13.4 6.5
2005 21.8 28.2 24.5
2004 39.1 47.4 42.6
2003 45.2 54.0 48.9
2002 54.5 62.0 57.7
2001 36.2 46.8 40.7
2000 50.3 52.5 51.3
1999 81.3 79.8 80.6
1998 99.7 77.2 89.2

Source: BTS TransBorder Freight Data, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

Table 4. U.S. Surface Trade with Canada by Mode of Transportation

(millions of dollars)

Excel | CSV

Mode   January
2007
December
2007
January
2008
Percent Change
Dec. 2007 – Jan. 2008
Percent Change
January 2007-2008
All Surface Modes Imports 22,660 21,903 23,752 8.4 4.8
Exports 16,065 17,707 18,290 3.3 13.9
Total 38,725 39,610 42,043 6.1 8.6
Truck Imports 11,785 10,694 11,584 8.3 -1.7
Exports 12,547 13,312 13,922 4.6 11.0
Rail Imports 5,322 5,060 4,947 -2.2 -7.1
Exports 1,724 2,296 2,069 -9.9 20.0
Pipeline Imports 4,288 5,099 5,984 17.4 39.5
Exports 216 277 353 27.3 63.3

Source: BTS TransBorder Freight Data, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding. Percent changes based on numbers prior to rounding. The value of trade for all surface modes is not equal to the sum of truck, rail and pipeline modes, it also includes shipments made by mail, foreign trade zones, other and unknown modes of transportation.  For additional detail refer to the “Data Fields” Section of the TransBorder web page: http://www.bts.gov/transborder/TBDR_DataFields.html.

Table 5. Top 10 States Trading with Canada by Surface Modes of Transportation

Ranked by January 2008 Surface Trade Value

(millions of dollars)

Excel | CSV

Rank State January 2008
1 Michigan 5,329
2 Illinois 4,013
3 Ohio 2,856
4 New York 2,669
5 California 2,353
6 Texas 2,124
7 Washington 1,910
8 Pennsylvania 1,767
9 Minnesota 1,452
10 Indiana 1,279

Source: BTS TransBorder Freight Data, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

Table 6. U.S. Surface Trade with Mexico by Mode of Transportation

(millions of dollars)

Excel | CSV

Mode   January
2007
December
2007
January
2008
Percent Change
Dec. 2007 – Jan. 2008
Percent Change
January 2007-2008
All Surface Modes Imports 12,349 12,593 12,895 2.4 4.4
Exports 9,576 8,698 10,222 17.5 6.7
Total 21,924 21,292 23,117 8.6 5.4
Truck Imports 10,523 10,198 10,911 7.0 3.7
Exports 7,741 6,463 7,965 23.2 2.9
Rail Imports 1,541 2,077 1,683 -19.0 9.2
Exports 1,310 1,540 1,757 14.1 34.2
Pipeline Imports 10 17 22 27.6 131.8
Exports 79 189 65 -65.4 -17.2

Source: BTS TransBorder Freight Data, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding. Percent changes based on numbers prior to rounding. The value of trade for all surface modes is not equal to the sum of truck, rail and pipeline modes, it also includes shipments made by mail, foreign trade zones, other and unknown modes of transportation.  For additional detail refer to the “Data Fields” Section of the TransBorder web page: http://www.bts.gov/transborder/TBDR_DataFields.html

Table 7. Top 10 States Trading with Mexico by Surface Modes of Transportation

Ranked by January 2008 Surface Trade Value

(millions of dollars)

Excel | CSV

Rank State January 2008
1 Texas 7,519
2 California 3,890
3 Michigan 2,184
4 Arizona 991
5 Illinois 771
6 Ohio 615
7 Tennessee 480
8 North Carolina 475
9 Pennsylvania 402
10 New York 366

Source: BTS TransBorder Freight Data, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/