2006 Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Rose 8.9 Percent from 2005

PDF

Contact BTS 10-07 Dave Smallen 202-366-5568

Tuesday, March 13, 2007 - Trade using surface transportation between the United States and its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners Canada and Mexico was 8.9 percent higher in 2006 than in 2005, reaching $760 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 freight valued at $126.5 billion entered the U.S. from Mexico by truck in 2006 while $93.0 billion of freight was exported to Mexico by truck (Table 6).

Freight valued at $149.9 billion entered the U.S. from Canada by truck in 2006 while $164.3 billion of freight was exported to Canada by truck (Table 4).         

Total U.S. - North American surface transportation imports rose 8.3 percent in 2006 from 2005, and exports rose by 9.7 percent during the same time period (Table 2).

Surface transportation consists largely of freight movements by truck, rail and pipeline.  About 90 percent of U.S. merchandise trade by value with Canada and Mexico moves on land.

Total U.S. - North American surface transportation trade value in 2006 was up 38.9 percent compared to 2001, and up 85.2 percent compared to 1996, a period of 10 years (Table 3).

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Canada

U.S.-Canada surface transportation trade totaled $488 billion in 2006, up 6.5 percent compared to 2005 (Table 4).  The value of imports carried by truck was 4.3 percent higher in 2006 than 2005 while the value of exports carried by truck was 8.7 percent higher.

Michigan led all states in surface trade with Canada in 2006 with $71.6 billion (Table 5).

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Mexico

U.S. - Mexico surface transportation trade totaled $272 billion in 2006, up 13.5 percent compared to 2005 (Table 6).  The value of imports carried by truck was 12.6 percent higher in 2006 than 2005 while the value of exports carried by truck was 11.6 percent higher.

Texas led all states in surface trade with Mexico in 2006 with $84.6 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.  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/.

Table 1. Value of Annual U.S. Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Compared to 2006

Excel | CSV

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

Table 2. U.S. Merchandise Trade with Canada and Mexico by Surface Modes of Transportation

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. 2006 Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Compared with Prior Years

Excel | CSV

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

Table 4. U.S. Merchandise Trade with Canada by Surface Modes of Transportation

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 2006 Surface Trade Value

Excel | CSV

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

Table 6. U.S. Merchandise Trade with Mexico by Surface Modes of Transportation

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 2006 Surface Trade Value

Excel | CSV

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