According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), the value of trade via surface transportation between the United States and its NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) partners, Canada and Mexico, rose nearly twenty percent between January 2010 and January 2011. Surface transportation, which includes truck, rail, pipeline, and main, accounts for 85.1% of U.S. trade, and was worth $67.7 billion in the first month of this year.
The year-over-year growth in trade was the largest since last August, as the comparisons have begun to normalize after huge post-recession growths in 2009 and 2010. The signs, such as a 1.8% month-over-month growth between December and January, are largely positive as commerce picks back up.
The value of freight move between the US and Canada made up $40.3 billion of total surface transportation, up 17.8% from last year. US-Mexico freight totaled $27.5 billion, but grew faster at 22.1%.
