December Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Fell 0.1 Percent from December 2005

(State Rankings in Tables 5 and 7)

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Contact BTS 09-07 Dave Smallen 202-366-5568

Wednesday, February 28, 2007 - Trade using surface transportation between the United States and its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners Canada and Mexico in December 2006, at $59.0 billion, was 0.1 percent lower than in December 2005, the first decline from the same month of the previous year since August 2003, 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 8.9 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. trade by value with Canada and Mexico moves on land.

Total North American surface transportation trade value in December was up 54.4 percent compared to December 2001, and up 76.8 percent compared to December 1996, a period of 10 years (Table 3).  Imports in December were up 95.6 percent compared to December 1996, while exports were up 56.6 percent. 

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Canada

 U.S.-Canada surface transportation trade totaled $38.2 billion in December, down 2.7 percent compared to December 2005 (Table 4).  The value of imports carried by truck was 2.8 percent higher in December 2006 than December 2005, while the value of exports carried by truck was 2.6 percent higher.

Michigan led all states in surface trade with Canada in December with $6.1 billion (Table 5).  

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Mexico

U.S. - Mexico surface transportation trade totaled $20.9 billion in December, up 5.0 percent compared to December 2005 (Table 6).  The value of imports carried by truck was 6.2 percent higher in December 2006 than December 2005 while the value of exports carried by truck was 2.3 percent lower.           

Texas led all states in surface trade with Mexico in December with $6.0 billion (Table 7).  

The TransBorder Freight Data are 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. 16. 

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 January TransBorder numbers on March 29, 2007.

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

(millions of dollars)

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Source: BTS TransBorder Freight Data, 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 Freight Data, 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 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 2006 Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Compared with December of Prior Years

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Source: BTS TransBorder Freight Data, 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 Freight Data, 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 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 2006 Surface Trade Value

(millions of dollars)

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Source: BTS TransBorder Freight Data, 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 Freight Data, 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 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 2006 Surface Trade Value

(millions of dollars)

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Source: BTS TransBorder Freight Data, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/