BTS Releases North American Surface Trade Numbers for January:
January 2012 Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Rose 11.5 Percent
from January 2011
Trade using surface transportation between the United States and its North American neighbors, Canada and Mexico, was 11.5 percent higher in January 2012 than in January 2011, totaling $75.5 billion, 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 January 2012 value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico, the United States’ North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners, rose 15.9 percent from January 2008, which was one month after the start of the recession, and 59.2 percent from January 2009, in the middle of the recession.
The value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico in January increased by 82.8 percent compared to January 2002, a period of 10 years. Imports in January were up 72.7 percent since January 2002, while exports were up 96.5 percent. See Transborder Press Releases for historical data.
Surface transportation includes freight movements by truck, rail, pipeline, mail, Foreign Trade Zones, and other. In January, 86.3 percent of U.S. trade by value with Canada and Mexico moved via land, 9.8 percent moved by vessel, and 3.9 percent moved by air. By all modes of transportation, U.S.-Canada trade and U.S.-Mexico trade accounted for 16.2 percent and 12.8 percent, respectively, of total U.S.-world trade in January 2012.
U.S.-Canada and U.S.-Mexico surface transportation trade both increased compared to January 2011 with U.S.-Canada reaching $44.1 billion, a 9.6 percent increase, and U.S.-Mexico reaching $31.4 billion, a 14.3 percent increase. For trade numbers by mode, see Table 4 for Canada and Table 6 for Mexico.