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North American Surface Trade Numbers for November 2004; Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Rose 12.5 Percent From November 2003

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Contact BTS 06-05 Roger Lotz 202-366-2246

Monday, January 31, 2005 - More than $54.9 billion worth of goods crossed the border by surface transportation between the United States and its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners Canada and Mexico in November 2004, 12.5 percent more than November 2003, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported today (Table 1).

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 surface transportation trade fell 3.5 percent in November 2004 from October 2004 (Table 2).  Month-to-month changes can be affected by seasonal variations and other factors. 

Total surface transportation trade value was up 23.5 percent compared to November 2001 and 70.7 percent from November 1994, the year NAFTA took effect (Table 3).  Exports increased 47.6 percent compared to November 1994 while imports over that same time rose 92.3 percent (Table 3).    

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Canada

U.S. - Canada surface transportation trade rose 10.8 percent to $35.0 billion in November 2004 from November 2003.  Carrying the largest amount by value, exports by truck increased 3.3 percent from November 2003 while imports by truck rose 19.1 percent (Table 4).

Michigan led all states in surface trade with Canada in November with $5.9 billion (Table 5).

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Mexico

U.S. - Mexico surface transportation trade rose 13.8 percent to $19.9 billion in November from November 2003.  Carrying the largest amount by value, imports by truck increased 15.9 percent from November 2003 while exports by truck rose 13.4 percent (Table 6).

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

The Transborder Surface 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.  November transborder numbers include data received by BTS as of Jan. 14. 

The press 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 December transborder numbers on Feb. 28. 

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

(millions of dollars)

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

Table 2: U.S. Merchandise Trade with Canada and Mexico using Surface Transportation

(millions of dollars)

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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

Table 3: November 2004 Surface Trade Compared with November of Prior Years: Percent Change

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

Table 4: U.S. Merchandise Trade with Canada using Surface Transportation

(millions of dollars)

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

For Note: See Table 2

Table 5: Top 10 States Trading with Canada using Surface Transportation, ranked by November 2004 Surface Trade Value

(millions of dollars)

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

Table 6: U.S. Merchandise Trade with Mexico using Surface Transportation

(millions of dollars)

Excel | CSV

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

For Note: See Table 2

Table 7: Top 10 States Trading with Mexico using Surface Transportation, ranked by November 2004 Surface Trade Value

(millions of dollars)

Excel | CSV

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