Trucks Moving More Freight Between U.S. and NAFTA Neighbors
A new report shows the value of U.S. trade with neighboring Canada and Mexico increased in January 3.5% from the same time a year ago with truck movements dominating freight transportation.
Evan Lockridge・Former Business Contributing Editor
March 28, 2013
2 min to read
A new report shows the value of U.S. trade with neighboring Canada and Mexico increased in January 3.5% from the same time a year ago with truck movements dominating freight transportation.
The U.S. Transportation Department says trucks carried 59.3% of the $90.5 billion in trade followed by rail at 14.3%, vessels at 9.8%, pipelines at 8.1% and air at 3.8%, with the surface transportation modes of truck, rail and pipeline carrying 81.7% of total trade between its North American Free Trade Agreement partners.
Ad Loading...
For trade between the United States and Canada, trucks carried 53.1% of the $51.0 billion in trade, followed by rail at 16.2%, pipelines at 13.9%, vessels at 6.1% and air at 4.4%. The surface transportation modes of truck, rail and pipeline carried 83.1% of the total U.S.-Canada trade.
In U.S. trade with Mexico trucks carried 67.4% of the $39.5 billion in trade, followed by vessels at 14.5%, rail at 11.8%, air at 3.1% and pipelines at 07 %. The surface transportation modes of truck, rail and pipeline carried 79.9% of the total U.S.-Mexico trade.
Import truck trade between the U.S. and two other countries increased 10.5% in January from the month before and 1.6% from the same time a year ago. Export truck trade moved 13% percent higher from December and grew 4.3% from January 2012. Together this equaled an 11.8% improvement in the December to January time frame and 3% increase in the one from a year earlier.
Ad Loading...
Rail movements showed declines from December to January and was mixed when viewed year-over-year.
The unanimous SCOTUS ruling in the closely watched Montgomery v. Caribe case allows state negligence claims against freight brokers that hire unsafe motor carriers, raising new liability and vetting concerns among brokers.
New Fleet Advantage research shows generative AI adoption has exploded among private fleets. But poor data integration and weak ROI tracking are preventing fleets from unlocking AI’s full operational and financial value.
When the unexpected happens, how you react to, and deal with operational blind spots is critical. Here’s how to keep you recovery on track, when nothing is normal.
As fleets adopt artificial intelligence for routing, maintenance, and load matching, new security risks are emerging. Learn where the vulnerabilities are and how to put the right controls in place.
CargoNet reports fewer supply chain crime events to start 2026. But losses hold steady as organized crime shifts tactics toward impersonation schemes and high-value goods.
Cargo theft rings plant operatives as drivers inside legitimate, fully vetted carriers, then execute coordinated thefts that look like a traditional straight theft from the outside.
