September U.S. surface trade with Mexico and Canada up 5.5 percent 

Jeff Berman, Senior Editor -- Logistics Management, 11/29/2007

WASHINGTON—Trade using surface transportation between the United States and its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners Canada and Mexico was up 5.5 percent in September 2007 compared to September 2006 and reached $66.8 billion, according to data released by the United States Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) today.

Surface transportation, according to the BTS, is comprised mainly of freight movements by truck, trail, and pipeline, and roughly 90 percent of U.S. trade by value with Canada and Mexico moves by land. On a monthly basis, the BTS reported that the value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico was up 45.8 percent in September compared to September 2002 and up 78.4 percent compared to September 1997, and imports in August were up 88.8 percent compared to September 1997, while exports were up 66.6 percent.

In August, U.S.-Canada surface transportation trade came in at $42.7 billion, which the BTS said, was up 5.6 percent compared to September 2006. And the value of imports carried by truck was 0.5 percent lower in September 2007 than September 2006, said the BTS. Exports carried by truck were up 8.5 percent year over year. For the month, Michigan paced all U.S. states in surface trade with Canada in September with $6.6 billion.

Transportation trade between the United States and Mexico came in at $24.1 billion in September, which was ahead of September 2006 by 5.4 percent. Imports carried by truck were valued at 5.6 percent higher than September 2006, said the BTS, and the value of exports carried by truck was up 5.6 percent. And Texas led all states in surface trade with Mexico in May with $7.5 billion.