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North American Surface Trade Numbers for January; Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Rose 14.6 Percent from January 2004 (State Rankings in Tables 5 and 7)

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Contact BTS 14-05 Dave Smallen 202-366-5568

Tuesday, March 29, 2005 - The United States traded $52.3 billion in goods using surface transportation in January with its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners Canada and Mexico, 14.6 percent more than January 2004, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) of the U.S. Department of Transportation 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.

BTS, a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), reported that total surface transportation trade rose 0.5 percent in January 2005 from December 2004 (Table 2).  Month-to-month changes can be affected by seasonal variations and other factors. 

Total surface transportation trade value in January was up 26.7 percent compared to January 2002 and 79.1 percent compared to January 1995, a period of 10 years (Table 3).  Exports in January were up 61.0 percent compared to January 1995 while imports were up 95.3 percent (Table 3).   

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Canada

U.S. – Canada surface transportation trade totaled $34.4 billion in January, up 17.9 percent compared to January 2004.  Carrying the largest amount by value, exports by truck increased 13.0 percent from January 2004 while imports by truck rose 19.7 percent (Table 4).

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 $17.9 billion in January, up 8.7 percent compared to January 2004.  Carrying the largest amount by value, imports by truck increased 8.8 percent compared to January 2004 while exports by truck rose 11.6 percent (Table 6).

Texas led all states in surface trade with Mexico in January with $6.0 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.  January transborder numbers include data received by BTS as of March 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 February transborder numbers on April 28.

Table 1. Value of Monthly 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 by Surface Modes of 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. January 2005 Surface Trade Compared with January 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 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

Table 5. Top 10 States Trading with Canada by Surface Modes of Transportation, ranked by January 2005 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 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

Table 7. Top 10 States Trading with Mexico by Surface Modes of Transportation, ranked by January 2005  Surface Trade Value

(millions of dollars)

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