U.S. trade with Canada and Mexico sees annual gain in 2016, BTS reports

The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) recently reported that United States trade with its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners, Canada and Mexico was up from 2016 to 2017.

BTS said all five major transportation modes– truck, rail, pipeline, vessel and air –moved more U.S. freight with Canada and Mexico by value in 2017 compared to 2016. And it added that total value of cross-border freight carried on all modes rose 6.6 percent from 2016 to $1.2 trillion in current dollars. 

The value of freight moved by vessel was up 1.2% and pipeline was up 1.1%, with BTS noting that the 17.3% bump in crude oil pricing help drive those gains with the dollar value of goods moved by pipeline and vessel up 31.3% and 29.6%, respectively.

Conversely, the value of freight moved on other modes dipped, with air down 0.1%, rail down 0.2% and truck down 2.2%.

Trucks again led the modal pack over all, moving 63.3 percent of the freight transported. Despite a 2.2 percentage point decrease from 2016 in the share carried, trucks accounted for $720.8 billion of the $1.1 trillion in freight flows with Canada and Mexico in 2017, according to BTS data.

Rail was next, moving $174.1 billion or 15.3%, followed by vessel, 6.6%; pipeline, 5.7%; and air, 3.8%. The surface transportation modes of truck, rail, and pipeline combined carried 84.3% of the total value.

Trucks carried 60.2% of the $614.0 billion of goods imported from Canada and Mexico in 2017, followed by rail, 18.5%; pipeline, 8.4%; vessel, 6.4%; and air, 3.1%. Trucks carried 66.8% of the $525.5 billion of goods exported to Canada and Mexico, followed by rail, 11.5%; vessel, 6.9%; air, 4.8%; and pipeline, 2.6%.

From 2016 to 2017, the value of U.S.-Canada freight flows increased 7.1%  to $582.4 billion. Trucks carried 57.7 percent of the value of the freight, followed by rail, 16.2%; pipeline, 10.6%; vessel, 3.9%; and air, 4.7%. The surface transportation modes of truck, rail, and pipeline combined carried 84.5 percent of the value

And for the same period, the value of U.S.-Mexico freight flows increased 6.1%to $557.0 billion. Trucks carried 69.1% of the value of the freight, followed by rail, 14.4%; vessel, 9.5%; air, 3.0%; and pipeline, 0.7%. The surface transportation modes of truck, rail, and pipeline combined carried 84.1% of the value.