BTS reports U.S.-NAFTA trade is up 2.0 percent annually in August

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 2.0 percent in August 2013 compared to August 2012 at $96.5 billion.

Surface transportation, according to the BTS, is comprised mainly of freight movements by truck, rail, pipeline, vessel, and air, and nearly 90 percent of U.S. trade by value with Canada and Mexico moves by land.

According to the BTS, three of these five modes carried more U.S.-NAFTA trade in August, the most recent month for which data is available. Pipelines were up 18.2 percent, which the BTS said reflects the rise in prices for oil and other petroleum products.

And trucks, which the BTS said move 60 percent of U.S.-NAFTA trade, inched up 0.7 percent, and rail increased 3.0 percent. Vessel and air movements were down 2.6 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively.

BTS said that trucks accounted for 59.9 percent of the $96.5 billion of August U.S.-NAFTA trade, with $30.3 billion in exports and $27.5 billion in imports, with rail at 15.6 percent, vessels at 8.5 percent, pipeline at 7.4 percent, and air at 3.7 percent. In August, truck, rail, and pipeline cumulatively accounted for 82.9 percent of total NAFTA freight flows, according to BTS.