Value of U.S. surface trade with Canada, Mexico rose 11.6% year-over-year in December; value of exports moved by truck increased 11%, by rail 17.9%: U.S. DOT

Alison Gallant

LOS ANGELES , February 28, 2012 (press release) –

Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - Trade using surface transportation between the United States and its North American neighbors, Canada and Mexico, was 11.6 percent higher in December 2011 than in December 2010, totaling $74.2 billion (Table 1), according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

BTS, a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, reported that the December 2011 value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico, the United States’ North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners, rose 27.0 percent in the past two years from December 2009, and 40.3 percent from December 2008 (Table 3).

The value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico in December increased by 25.7 percent when compared to December 2006, and also increased by 94.1 percent when compared to December 2001, a period of 10 years. Imports in December were up 85.7 percent since December 2001, while exports were up 105.2 percent (Table 3). See Transborder Press Releases for historic data. Values in this press release are not adjusted for inflation.

Surface transportation includes freight movements by truck, rail, pipeline, mail, Foreign Trade Zones, and other. In December, 85.5 percent of U.S. trade by value with Canada and Mexico moved via land, 10.0 percent moved by vessel, and 4.5 percent moved by air (Table 8).

The value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico decreased 3.2 percent in December 2011 from November 2011 (Table 2). Month-to-month changes can be affected by seasonal variations and other factors.

U.S.-Canada and U.S.-Mexico surface transportation trade both increased compared to December 2010 with U.S.-Canada reaching $44.2 billion, an 11.2 percent increase, and U.S.-Mexico reaching $30.0 billion, a 12.1 percent increase. For trade numbers by mode, see Table 4 for Canada and Table 6 for Mexico.

In December trade by state, Michigan led all states in surface trade with Canada as it has in previous years, at $5.6 billion, a 19.7 percent increase from December 2010 (Table 5). Texas also continued to lead all states in surface trade with Mexico at $10.3 billion, an 8.7 percent increase from December 2010 (Table 7).

The news release and summary tables can be found at www.bts.gov. More information on TransBorder Freight Data, data from previous months, and individual state data are available online on the BTS website at http://www.bts.gov/programs/international/transborder/. BTS has scheduled release of January TransBorder numbers for March 27.
Table 1. Value of Monthly U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Canada and Mexico

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