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 6.2 percent in March 2012 compared to March 2011 at $85.8 billion.
BTS said that the value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico in March is the highest value month for NAFTA trade since data began being collected in 1994, topping $85 billion for the first time ever and besting the previous high of $80.8 billion in March 2011.
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 87.4 percent of U.S. trade by value with Canada and Mexico moved on land in February, with 8.7 percent moving by vessel, and 3.9 percent by air.
March, said the BTS, was up 9.8 percent from February, and March’s value of U.S. transportation trade with Canada and Mexico was up 21.2 percent compared to March 2008 and up 68.1 percent over March 2009.
U.S.-Canada surface transportation trade in March at $50.1 billion was up 2.9 percent. Michigan paced all states in surface trade with Canada in March at $6.3 billion for a 3.0 percent annual gain.
The value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Mexico was up 11.2 percent year over year in March at $35.7 billion. Texas led all states in surface trade with Mexico in February at $12.6 billion, up 11.5 percent annually.