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December 2005 Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Grew 13.5 Percent from December 2004

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Contact BTS 10-06 Dave Smallen 202-366-5568

Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - Trade using surface transportation between the United States and its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners Canada and Mexico was 13.5 percent higher in December 2005 than in December 2004, reaching $59.1 billion, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) of the U.S. Department of Transportation (Table 1).

BTS, a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), reported that total North American surface transportation trade fell 6.0 percent in December from November (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. merchandise trade by value with Canada and Mexico moves on land.

Total North American surface transportation trade value in December was up 54.5 percent compared to December 2001, and up 102.3 percent compared to December 1995, a period of 10 years (Table 3).  Imports in December were up 120.7 percent compared to December 1995, while exports were up 81.1 percent.

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Canada

U.S.-Canada surface transportation trade totaled $39.2 billion in December, up 16.2 percent compared to December 2004 (Table 4).  The value of imports carried by truck was 4.6 percent higher in December 2005 than December 2004 while the value of exports carried by truck was 8.8 percent higher.

Michigan led all states in surface trade with Canada in December with $6.2 billion (Table 5).

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Mexico

U.S. - Mexico surface transportation trade totaled $19.9 billion in December, up 8.5 percent compared to December 2004 (Table 6).  The value of imports carried by truck was 6.1 percent higher in December 2005 than December 2004 while the value of exports carried by truck was 6.9 percent higher.    

Texas led all states in surface trade with Mexico in December with $6.5 billion (Table 7).

The Transborder Freight Dataset is a special extract of the official U.S. foreign trade statistics.  The data are tabulated for BTS monthly by the U.S. Census Bureau's Foreign Trade Division.  December transborder numbers include data received by BTS as of Feb. 13.

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 additional annual 2005 transborder numbers on March 14 and January transborder numbers on March 28.

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

(millions of dollars)

Excel | CSV

Source: BTS Transborder Surface Freight Dataset, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.

Table 2: U.S. Merchandise Trade with Canada and Mexico by Surface Modes of Transportation

(millions of dollars)

Excel | CSV

Source: BTS Transborder Surface Freight Dataset, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

Note: The value of all surface modes is not equal to the sum of truck, rail and pipeline modes.  The value of trade for all surface modes includes shipments made by truck, rail, pipeline, mail, foreign trade zones, other and unknown modes of transportation.  For additional detail refer to the Transborder Surface Freight data "Sources and Reliability" statement: http://www.bts.gov/ntda/tbscd/srfin.html; Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.

Table 3: December 2005 Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Compared with December of Prior Years

Excel | CSV

Source: BTS Transborder Surface Freight Dataset, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

Table 4: U.S. Merchandise Trade with Canada by Surface Modes of Transportation

(millions of dollars)

Excel | CSV

Source: BTS Transborder Surface Freight Dataset, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

Note: The value of all surface modes is not equal to the sum of truck, rail and pipeline modes.  The value of trade for all surface modes includes shipments made by truck, rail, pipeline, mail, foreign trade zones, other and unknown modes of transportation.  For additional detail refer to the Transborder Surface Freight data "Sources and Reliability" statement: http://www.bts.gov/ntda/tbscd/srfin.html; Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.

Table 5: Top 10 States Trading with Canada by Surface Modes of Transportation, Ranked by December 2005 Surface Trade Value

(millions of dollars)

Excel | CSV

Source: BTS Transborder Surface Freight Dataset, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

Table 6: U.S. Merchandise Trade with Mexico by Surface Modes of Transportation

(millions of dollars)

Excel | CSV

Source: BTS Transborder Surface Freight Dataset, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

Note: The value of all surface modes is not equal to the sum of truck, rail and pipeline modes.  The value of trade for all surface modes includes shipments made by truck, rail, pipeline, mail, foreign trade zones, other and unknown modes of transportation.  For additional detail refer to the Transborder Surface Freight data "Sources and Reliability" statement: http://www.bts.gov/ntda/tbscd/srfin.html; Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.

Table 7: Top 10 States Trading with Mexico by Surface Modes of Transportation, Ranked by December 2005 Surface Trade Value

(millions of dollars)

Excel | CSV

Source: BTS Transborder Surface Freight Dataset, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/