The Latest NAFTA Numbers Just in from the BTS

[Network of North American SuperCorridors. (Map by Infranet Lab.)]

While there have been many critiques of NAFTA and other trade agreements, NAFTA seems to be the trade agreement that keeps on giving to the US, Canada and Mexico for almost 20 years since 1994.

The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) at the US Department of Transportation announced today that surface trade between Canada and Mexico Rose 6.6 Percent from June 2011 to June 2012.

The numbers show that in the last 10 years the US has gotten the better end of the bargain, by almost 20%. Exports were up by 90.8% and imports were only up by 69.7% since June 2002. In 2012 87.7% of trade between the NAFTA countries moved via land (including by truck, rail, pipeline, mail, Foreign Trade Zones, and other modes of transport) , 8.3% moved by vessel, and 4% moved by air.

The top commodity traded between the U.S. and Canada by land in June was vehicles, valued at $9.9 billion. The top commodity traded between the U.S. and Mexico by land in June was electrical machinery (including equipment and parts), valued at $7 billion.