2005 Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Grew 10 Percent from 2004

(State Rankings in Tables 5 and 7)

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Contact BTS 12-06 Dave Smallen 202-366-5568

Tuesday, March 14, 2006 - Trade using surface transportation between the United States and its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners Canada and Mexico was 10 percent higher in 2005 than in 2004, the second consecutive year of growth of at least 10 percent, 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 reached $698 billion.  Imports rose 10 percent from 2004 to $401 billion and exports rose 10 percent to $297 billion (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 North American surface transportation trade value in 2005 was up 29 percent compared to 2002, the low point for the last six years, and up 89 percent compared to 1995, a period of 10 years (Table 3).

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Canada

U.S.-Canada surface transportation trade totaled $458 billion in 2005, up 12 percent compared to 2004 (Table 4).  The value of imports carried by truck was 8 percent higher in 2005 than 2004 while the value of exports carried by truck was 11 percent higher.

Michigan led all states in surface trade with Canada in 2005 with $72 billion (Table 5).

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Mexico

U.S.-Mexico surface transportation trade totaled $240 billion in 2005, up 7 percent compared to 2004 (Table 6).  The value of imports carried by truck was 7 percent higher in 2005 than 2004 while the value of exports carried by truck was 5 percent higher. 

Texas led all states in surface trade with Mexico in 2005 with $78 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 by the U.S. Census Bureau's Foreign Trade Division.  Transborder numbers include data received by BTS as of Feb. 13.

BTS also produces monthly Transborder freight statistics. Monthly news releases and summary tables can be found at http://www.bts.gov/press_releases/north_american_surface_freight_data.html.  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 additional January transborder numbers on March 28.

Table 1: Annual Value of U.S. Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico and Percentage Change from the Previous Year: 1995-2005

(millions of dollars)

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Note: Values before 1997 include merchandise transshipped through Canada and Mexico.

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; Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.

Table 3: 2005 Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Compared with Prior Years

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Note: Values before 1997 include merchandise transshipped through Canada and Mexico.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)

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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; Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.

Table 5: Top 10 States Trading with Canada by Surface Modes of Transportation in 2005, Ranked by 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 in 2005, Ranked by Surface Trade Value

(millions of dollars)

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