BTS 27-08
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Contact: Dave Smallen
Tel.: 202-366-5568

BTS Releases North American Surface Trade Numbers for March 2008:
Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Rose 1.5 Percent from
March 2007
(State Rankings in Tables 5 and 7)

Trade using surface transportation between the United States and its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners, Canada and Mexico, was 1.5 percent higher in March 2008 than in March 2007, reaching $70.8 billion, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) of the U.S. Department of Transportation (Table 1). 

The value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico rose 2.0 percent in March from February (Table 2). Month-to-month changes can be affected by seasonal variations and other factors.

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.

The value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico in March was up 43.4 percent compared to March 2003, and up 73.5 percent compared to March 1998, a period of 10 years (Table 3). Imports in March were up 85.9 percent compared to March 1998, while exports were up 59.6 percent.

Data for exports to Canada by pipeline in March 2008 were unavailable at the time of this release. These exports amounted to $222 million in March 2007 and $273 million in February 2008, less than 1 percent of U.S.-Canada trade in those months (Table 4).

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Canada

U.S.–Canada surface transportation trade excluding U.S. pipeline exports to Canada totaled $47.2 billion in March (Table 4). The value of imports carried by truck was 7.3 percent lower in March 2008 than March 2007, while the value of exports carried by truck was 2.2 percent higher.

Michigan led all states in surface trade with Canada in March with $6.3 billion
(Table 5).

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Mexico

U.S.–Mexico surface transportation trade totaled $23.6 billion in March, down 4.6 percent compared to March 2007 (Table 6). The value of imports carried by truck was 8.8 percent lower in March 2008 than March 2007 while the value of exports carried by truck was 2.3 percent lower.

Texas led all states in surface trade with Mexico in March with $7.2 billion (Table 7).

The TransBorder Freight Data are a unique subset of official U.S. foreign trade statistics released by the U.S. Census Bureau. New data are tabulated monthly and historical data are not adjusted for inflation. March TransBorder numbers include data received by BTS as of May 9.

The news 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 April TransBorder numbers on June 30.