BTS reports surface trade with NAFTA partners is up 11.6 percent for December 2011

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 was up 11.6 percent on December 2011 compared to December 2010 at $74.2 billion.

BTS said that the value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico in December was up 25.7 percent compared to December 2006 and up 94.1 percent compared to December 2001, with imports up 85.7 percent and exports up 105.2 percent during that ten-year period.

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. According to the BTS 85.8 percent of U.S. trade by value with Canada and Mexico moved on land in December, with 10.0 percent moving by vessel, and 4.5 percent by air.

The BTS said the value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico in December was down 3.2 percent from November.

But it was once again up year-over-year in December.  U.S.-Canada surface transportation trade at $44.2 billion was up 11.2 percent. Michigan paced all states in surface trade with Canada in December at $5.6 billion for a 19.7 percent annual gain.

The value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Mexico was up 12.1 percent year over year in November at $30.0 billion. Texas led all states in surface trade with Mexico in December at $10.3 billion, up 8.7 percent annually.