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April Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Rose 5.9 Percent from April 2005

(State Rankings in Tables 5 and 7)

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Contact BTS 31-06 Dave Smallen 202-366-5568

Thursday, June 29, 2006 - Trade using surface transportation between the United States and its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners Canada and Mexico was 5.9 percent higher in April 2006 than in April 2005, reaching $61.7 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 9.5 percent in April from March (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.

Total North American surface transportation trade value in April was up 31.9 percent compared to April 2001, and up 78.9 percent compared to April 1996, a period of 10 years (Table 3).  Imports in April were up 91.7 percent compared to April 1996, while exports were up 64.5 percent.

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Canada

U.S.-Canada surface transportation trade totaled $40.6 billion in April, up 6.5 percent compared to April 2005 (Table 4).  The value of imports carried by truck was 4.0 percent higher in April 2006 than April 2005 while the value of exports carried by truck was 6.1 percent higher.

Michigan led all states in surface trade with Canada in April with $6.3 billion (Table 5).

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Mexico

U.S. - Mexico surface transportation trade totaled $21.1 billion in April, up 4.7 percent compared to April 2005 (Table 6).  The value of imports carried by truck was 1.8 percent higher in April 2006 than April 2005 while the value of exports carried by truck was 5.6 percent higher.           

Texas led all states in surface trade with Mexico in April with $6.7 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.  April transborder numbers include data received by BTS as of June 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 May transborder numbers on July 31.

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. April 2006 Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Compared with April 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 April 2006 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 April 2006 Surface Trade Value

(millions of dollars)

Excel | CSV

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