BTS reports December surface trade with NAFTA partners falls 3.2 percent

The United States Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) said today that trade using surface transportation between the United States and its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners Canada and Mexico fell 3.2 percent in December 2012 compared to December 2011 at $71.9 billion.

Surface transportation, according to the BTS, is comprised mainly of freight movements by truck, trail, and pipeline, mail and Foreign Trade Zones, and nearly 90 percent of U.S. trade by value with Canada and Mexico moves by land. BTS said surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico accounted for 17 percent of total U.S. foreign trade in December 2012.

In December, BTS said that $48 billion of U.S. trade with Canada and Mexico moved by truck, with $14 billion moved by rail, and $6 billion by pipeline.

BTS said that U.S.-Canada surface trade in December came in at $42.1 billion, with Michigan leading all states in surface trade with Canada at $5.6 million.

The value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Mexico in December was $29.8 billion. Texas led all states in surface trade with Mexico in December at $10.3 billion.