Nafta Surface Trade Drops 4% in March
Surface trade among the United States, Canada and Mexico fell 4% in March from the same month last year but jumped 8% from February, the Department of Transportation said Wednesday.
Trade among the North American Free Trade Agreement partners slipped to $90.5 billion, DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics said in its monthly report.
Trucks — whose share of freight declined 4.1% year-over-year — carried 60% of the total value of the freight traded among the Nafta partners.
Trucks accounted for 55.1% of the $54.3 billion in trade with Canada and 66.5% of the $41.2 billion traded with Mexico.
Freight moved by rail, which accounted for 16.5% of total trade, rose 7.8% year-over-year, BTS said.
Truck imports to the United States from the two countries fell 4.2% year-over-year to $27.7 billion, while exports slipped 3.9% to $29.6 billion.
Rail imports surged 11% to $10.4 billion, while exports rose 2.4% to $5.4 billion. Pipeline imports dropped 10% to $5.8 billion, while exports rose 0.9% to just under $1 billion.
