1 April 2009

NAFTA Trade Plummets

This article is excerpted from the 31 March 2009 edition of “The Journal of Commerce”.

Trade using surface transportation between the United States and its North American Free Trade Agreement partners Canada and Mexico took its steepest dive ever in January to the lowest monthly dollar amount since January 2004.

Surface trade fell 27.2 percent compared with a year earlier to $47.5 billion in January, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The plunge comes after six months of progressive declines in trade among the three countries. Surface trade declined 0.3 percent in the final six months of 2008 and 9.4 percent in the October-to-December period compared to 2007. As reported in early March, the final month of 2008 saw a 13.1 percent decline year-over-year, dropping to $52.9 billion. December was the second straight month with a year-to-year decline of greater than 13 percent.

The value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico fell 10.3 percent in January from December.

About 88 percent of U.S. trade by value with Canada and Mexico moves on land by truck, rail and pipeline. U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Canada totaled $29 billion in January, down 31.1 percent compared to January 2008. U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Mexico totaled $18.5 billion in January, down 20 percent compared to January 2008.