Continued strong growth in Mexican imports keeps cross-border freight up in July

After being weighed down by weak Canadian freight in June, cross-border freight hauled by trucks in July returned to its upward trend that began in late 2020.

According to the latest numbers from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, truck freight valued at nearly $87 billion was hauled across the borders in July. That was an increase of 8% compared to July 2023 but remained virtually stagnant compared to June.

July’s year-to-year increase was a return to growth after a small decline in the value of cross-border freight in June. Trucking freight across North America has been trending upward since November 2020. Only three other decreases have occurred since then: a 2% decrease in February 2021, a 1% decrease in December 2023 and a 4.5% decrease in March.

Cross-border freight hauled by trucks across the U.S. southern border increased by 15% compared to July 2023, led by a surge in computer-related freight that began in January. At the northern border, another fairly large drop in vehicle cargo kept the value of Canadian freight mostly unchanged.

The top three truck commodities at the northern border were computers/parts ($5.6 billion, down 3%), vehicles ($4.3 billion, down 19%) and electrical machinery ($2.4 billion, up 3%). At the Mexican border, top commodities included computers/parts ($12.4 billion, up 38%), electrical machinery ($11.4 billion, up 12%) and vehicles ($7.3 billion, up 6%).

July’s cross-border report shows a continuation of strong numbers coming in and out of the southern border.

Fleet management technology company Motive noted in its August economic report that Mexico was the United States’ largest importer after a 20% drop in Chinese imports had companies moving nearshoring.

According to Motive, Mexico’s place as the largest importer may be more firmly planted with further tariffs on Chinese products on the horizon. With both presidential candidates indicating plans for tariffs, U.S. companies are likely to continue nearshoring in Mexico. Those insights and more are included in Motive’s September economic report, which will be published here on Tuesday, Sept. 24. As highlighted in the federal government’s reports, computer-related manufacturing is leading the charge in cross-border freight.

By weight, cross-border freight hauled by trucks was up by 6% compared to the previous year but remained unchanged compared to June. This marked only the seventh year-to-year increase for North American truck freight by weight since July 2022. Four of those increases occurred this year.

Top Canadian commodities for trucking by weight included wood (up 4%), paper (up 14%) and iron/steel (up 10%). In Mexico, the top three commodities were vehicles (up 7%), computers/parts (up 12%) and edible vegetables/roots (down 5%). July marked the first time computers/parts freight ranked in the top three commodities by weight in Mexico since February.

Accounting for all modes of transportation, the total value of cross-border freight reached more than $134 billion in July. That was an increase of 6% compared to the previous year, but like trucking freight, it remained stagnant compared to June.

Overall cross-border freight value has been trending downward since March 2023. Last year, cross-border freight dropped in eight months, including a seven-month streak that started in March. However, the value of North American freight has now increased six times since October.

Canadian freight was up 3% compared to the previous year, whereas Mexican freight rose by 8%.

By weight, freight crossing the borders went up by 1% compared to July 2023 and increased by 2% compared to June.

Cross-border freight was higher for most transportation modes in July. In addition to the increase in trucking freight, pipeline increased by 25% and airfreight went up by 12%. There were decreases in vessel freight (minus 8%) and rail freight (minus 7%). LL