North American Surface Trade Numbers for October; Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Rose 8.6 Percent from October 2003

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Tuesday, January 4, 2005 - The United States traded $56.9 billion using surface transportation in October with its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners, Canada and Mexico, 8.6 percent more than October 2003, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics of the U.S. Department of Transportation reported today (Table 1).

Surface transportation consists largely of freight movements by truck, rail and pipeline. About 90 percent of U.S. trade by value with Canada and Mexico moves on land.

Total surface transportation trade rose 3.6 percent in October 2004 from September 2004 (Table 2). Month-to-month changes can be affected by seasonal variations and other factors.

Total surface transportation trade value was up 19.4 percent from October 2001 and 81.8 percent from October 1994, the year NAFTA took effect (Table 3). Exports increased 60.1 percent compared to October 1994 while imports over that same time rose 102.3 percent (Table 3).

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Canada

U.S. – Canada surface transportation trade rose 10.6 percent in October from October 2003 to $36.5 billion. Carrying the largest amount by value, exports by truck increased 9.0 percent from October 2003 while imports by truck rose 11.2 percent (Table 4).

Michigan led all states in surface trade with Canada in October with $6.1 billion (Table 5).

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Mexico

U.S. – Mexico surface transportation trade rose 5.3 percent in October from October 2003 to $20.4 billion. Carrying the largest amount by value, imports by truck increased 5.0 percent from October 2003 while exports by truck rose 2.3 percent (Table 6).

Texas led all states in surface trade with Mexico in October with $6.6 billion (Table 7).

The Transborder Surface Freight Dataset is a special extract of the official U.S. foreign trade statistics. The data are tabulated for BTS monthly by the U.S. Census

Bureau’s Foreign Trade Division. October transborder numbers include data received by BTS as of Dec. 15.

The press release and summary tables can be found at www.bts.gov. More information on transborder freight data and data from previous months are posted on the BTS website at http://www.bts.gov/transborder/. BTS will release November transborder numbers on Jan. 31.

Table 1. North American Surface Transportation Trade by Value

(millions of dollars)

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Source: BTS Transborder Surface Freight Dataset, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

Table 2. U.S.Surface Transportation Trade with Canada and Mexico by Mode

(millions of dollars)

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Source: BTS Transborder Surface Freight Dataset, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

Note: The value of all surface modes is not equal to the sum of truck, rail and pipeline modes. The value of trade for all surface modes includes shipments made by truck, rail, pipeline, mail, foreign trade zones, other and unknown modes of transportation. For additional detail refer to the Transborder Surface Freight data "Sources and Reliability" statement: http://www.bts.gov/ntda/tbscd/srfin.html

Table 3: Percent Changes ofNorth American Surface Transportation Trade, Imports and Exports by Valuefrom Previous Years to 2004

(Month to Month Comparison)

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Source: BTS Transborder Surface Freight Dataset http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

Table 4. U.S.Surface Transportation Trade with Canada by Mode

(millions of dollars)

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Source: BTS Transborder Surface Freight Dataset, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

Table 5. Top 10 States Trading with Canada by Surface Transportation, ranked by September 2004 Surface Transportation Trade Value

(millions of dollars)

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Source: BTS Transborder Surface Freight Dataset, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

Table 6. U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Mexico By Mode

(millions of dollars)

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Key: NA = not applicable

Source: BTS Transborder Surface Freight Dataset, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

Table 7. Top 10 States Trading with Mexico by Surface Transportation, ranked by September 2004 Surface Transportation Trade Value

(millions of dollars)

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Source: BTS Transborder Surface Freight Dataset, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/