Mexico Surpasses Canada as Top Source of U.S. Land Freight in 2025
In 2025, Mexican truck and rail freight crossings into the United States exceeded those from Canada, with Mexico logging 7.59 million truck crossings and 11,309 rail crossings compared to Canada’s 5.27 million truck crossings and 20,152 rail crossings. This reverses a long‑standing pattern where Canada dominated the north‑south freight flow, a lead it held as recently as 2000 with over 7 million truck crossings.
Mexican truck crossings rose steadily from 4.53 million in 2000 to a peak of 7.62 million in 2024 before slipping to 7.59 million last year. Canadian truck crossings fell after the 2008‑09 financial crisis to just over 5 million in 2009, recovered somewhat, then dipped again to 5.21 million in 2020 and settled at 5.27 million in 2025. Rail traffic shows a similar divergence: Canadian rail crossings dropped from 33,447 in 2000 to 20,152 in 2025, while Mexican rail crossings climbed from 7,108 in 2000 to 11,309 in 2025. Correspondingly, the value of U.S. imports from Mexico reached $534.3 billion in 2025, surpassing Canada’s $381.9 billion for the same year.
The article notes that Mexico’s land freight volumes began to exceed Canada’s around 2016, well before the 2025 trade‑policy shift with the northern neighbor. It also highlights that after peaking in 2000 at more than 7 million truck crossings, Canada’s volume fell to just over 5 million in 2009, rose over the next decade, then dipped to 5.21 million in 2020. Mexican rail crossings, meanwhile, have risen steadily over the past 25 years, with only minor dips in 2009 and 2020.
What we know
Mexico’s land freight volumes into the U.S. started to exceed Canada’s sometime around 2016
In 2025, U.S. incoming truck crossings from Canada were 5.27 million
In 2025, U.S. incoming truck crossings from Mexico were 7.59 million
In 2025, U.S. incoming rail crossings from Canada were 20,152
In 2025, U.S. incoming rail crossings from Mexico were 11,309