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February Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Rose 11.3 Percent from February 2004

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Thursday, April 28, 2005 - The United States traded $53.6 billion in goods using surface transportation in February 2005 with its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners Canada and Mexico, 11.3 percent more than February 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 2.4 percent in February from January (Table 2).  Month-to-month changes can be affected by seasonal variations and other factors. 

Total surface transportation trade value in February was up 28.5 percent compared to February 2002 and 80.3 percent compared to February 1995, a period of ten years (Table 3).  Exports in February were up 60.0 percent compared to February 1995, while imports were up 99.0 percent (Table 3).   

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Canada

U.S. - Canada surface transportation trade totaled $35.4 billion in February, up 12.7 percent compared to February 2004.  Carrying the largest amount by value, exports by truck increased 11.0 percent from February 2004, while imports by truck rose 12.4 percent (Table 4).

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

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Mexico

U.S. - Mexico surface transportation trade totaled $18.2 billion in February, up 8.6 percent compared to February 2004.  Carrying the largest amount by value, imports by truck increased 7.7 percent compared to February 2004, while exports by truck rose 8.3 percent  (Table 6).

Texas led all states in surface trade with Mexico in February with $5.9 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.  February transborder numbers include data received by BTS as of April 15, 2005. 

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 March transborder numbers on May 27.

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)

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 3: February 2005 Surface Trade Compared with February of Prior Years

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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 February 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 February 2005  Surface Trade Value

(millions of dollars)

Excel | CSV

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