Truck trade with NAFTA partners grows, as does overall trade

Trade between the U.S. and NAFTA partners Canada and Mexico totaled $89.6 billion in February, and trucks moved $53.6 billion of that, according to numbers released this week by the Department of Transportation this week.

The amount of goods moved by truck in the month grew 2.6 percent from the same month last year, while overall trade between the U.S. and Canada and Mexico rose 1.3 percent from last February. Trucking and pipeline were the only two modes to see year over year growth.

Trade between the U.S and NAFTA partners was up 63.8 percent from February 2009.

Trucking’s share of the total was 59.8 percent, carrying $27.8 billion in exports and $25.8 billion in imports. Rail carried the second highest amount of freight, 14.7 percent.

Trade with Canada in the month totaled $48.9 billion — nearly unchanged from February 2013 — while trade with Mexico grew 2.8 percent to $40.7 billion. Surface trade — truck, rail and pipeline — accounted for 82.2 percent of all freight flow.

Trucks carried 54.4 percent of the good moved between the U.S. and Canada and 66.4 percent of the goods between the U.S. and Mexico.

The top commodity moved between the U.S. and Canada was mineral fuels, while the top commodity between the U.S. and Mexico was electrical machinery.