NAFTA trade growth continues in January

Total cross-border trade between the United States, Mexico and Canada jumped 6.7 percent in January 2017, the third straight month of year-over-year increases, according to the Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics.    The total value of cross-border trade between the United States and its partners in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which include Canada and Mexico, in January 2017 grew 6.7 percent to $88 billion compared with the same 2016 period, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS).
   BTS noted total NAFTA freight values have now grown in three consecutive months and four of the last six months when compared with the prior-year period. The January increase was also the largest year-over-year increase since September 2014.
   For the full year in 2016, however, NAFTA freight flows fell 3.4 percent from 2015 to $1.069 trillion in current dollars, according to BTS figures.
   All five of the major transportation modes measured by BTS moved more freight by value in January, with pipeline trade jumping 42.7 percent, marine vessel up 41.8 percent, air up 13.7 percent, rail up 5.5 percent, and truck up 0.4 percent from the previous year.
   BTS attributed the substantial increase in pipeline and vessel values to a 66 percent year-over-year increase in the price of crude oil.
   Trucks continued to be the most heavily utilized mode for moving goods to and from both Canada and Mexico, accounting for 59.1 percent ($28.2 billion) of the $47.8 billion in U.S. imports from Canada and Mexico during the month and 66.6 percent ($26.8 billion) of the $40.2 billion in exports, the bureau said.
   Rail remained the second largest mode by value, moving 15 percent of all U.S.-NAFTA freight, followed by vessel (7 percent), pipeline (6.4 percent) and air (3.9 percent).
   Year-over-year, the value of U.S.-Canada freight flows rose 7.1 percent to $45 billion in January, while U.S.-Mexico trade values increased 6.3 percent to $43 billion.