January Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Rose 16.9 Percent from January 2005

(State Rankings in Tables 5 and 7)

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Contact BTS 15-06 Dave Smallen 202-366-5568

Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - Trade using surface transportation between the United States and its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners Canada and Mexico was 16.9 percent higher in January 2006 than in January 2005, reaching $61.2 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 the increase from January 2005 was the largest rise from the same month in the previous year since a 19.0 percent increase in August 2004 from August 2003. Year-to-year percentage changes for 2004 and 2005 were reported in previous BTS releases which can be found at http://www.bts.gov/press_releases/north_american_surface_freight_data.html.

Total North American surface transportation trade rose 3.5 percent in January from December (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 January was up 32.1 percent compared to January 2001, and up 98.3 percent compared to January 1996, a period of 10 years (Table 3).  Imports in January were up 112.5 percent compared to January 1996, while exports were up 81.1 percent. 

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Canada

U.S.-Canada surface transportation trade totaled $40.0 billion in January, up 16.2 percent compared to January 2005 (Table 4).  The value of imports carried by truck was 9.6 percent higher in January 2006 than January 2005 while the value of exports carried by truck was 14.1 percent higher.

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

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Mexico

U.S. - Mexico surface transportation trade totaled $21.2 billion in January, up 18.3 percent compared to January 2005 (Table 6).  The value of imports carried by truck was 13.2 percent higher in January 2006 than January 2005 while the value of exports carried by truck was 17.3 percent higher.

Texas led all states in surface trade with Mexico in January with $7.0 billion (Table 7).

The Transborder 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 13. 

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 February transborder numbers on April 28.

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

(millions of dollars)

Excel | CSV

Source: BTS Transborder Surface Freight Dataset, 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 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; Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.

Table 3: January 2006 Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Compared with January 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; Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.

Table 5. Top 10 States Trading with Canada by Surface Modes of Transportation, Ranked by January 2006 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; Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.

Table 7: Top 10 States Trading with Mexico by Surface Modes of Transportation, Ranked by January 2006 Surface Trade Value

(millions of dollars)

Excel | CSV

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