Trade

Where Canada’s exports go, the balance with the United States and the rest of the world, trade with the European Union and China, and the Canadian dollar

Canada is a deeply trade-dependent economy. Moreover, it is overwhelmingly dependent on a single partner: the United States. This page covers the concentration of exports on the United States, where the surplus and deficit actually reside, the Canadian dollar, and, to close, the overall balance with the rest of the world. Growth and productivity are on the Growth & Productivity page, and jobs on the Jobs page.

Trade exposure to the United States

The United States takes about two-thirds of Canada’s merchandise exports. This share peaked near 88% around 2000, drifted down over the following two decades, and dropped sharply during the 2025 tariff conflict. Shown for scale, the European Union and China each account for only about 5–6%. The United Kingdom, the second-largest destination by value, is one legend click away; almost all of that trade is gold, as the chart further down shows. This reveals how concentrated Canada’s trade is on the United States. (Balance-of-payments basis, seasonally adjusted. The European Union is counted as its 27 current members throughout.)

Trade with the European Union and China

Canada’s goods trade with the European Union and with China, in both directions, as twelve-month totals. Each point is the total of the twelve months ending in that month, so the December points are calendar years and the latest point covers August 2025 to July 2026. In the twelve months to July 2026, Canada exported $47 billion of goods to the European Union and imported $85 billion from it. With China, exports were $42 billion and imports $66 billion. Exports to the United States over the same months were $571 billion, about 12 times the European figure, which is why the United States is left off this chart. The European Union is counted as its 27 current members throughout. The dropdown switches the chart to the same trade as a share of Canada’s total goods exports and imports: over those twelve months the European Union took 5.6% of Canada’s exports and supplied 10.1% of its imports, and China 5.0% and 7.9%.

Exports to the United Kingdom: gold and everything else

By value, the United Kingdom is Canada’s second-largest export destination, and almost all of that trade is one commodity. In the twelve months to July 2026, Canada exported $69 billion of goods to the United Kingdom, and 88% of it was unwrought gold and other precious metals (Statistics Canada’s category: unwrought gold, silver, and platinum group metals, and their alloys). Without that category, the United Kingdom’s share of Canada’s exports was 1.0% rather than 8.4%. In 2019 the category was 72% of a much smaller $20 billion. Across all destinations, precious metals were 9% of Canada’s goods exports over the same twelve months. This is why the United Kingdom is hidden by default on the charts above: its line moves with bullion shipments. The dropdown switches between dollars and the two parts as shares of Canada’s total exports. Customs basis, not seasonally adjusted, so the figures differ slightly from the balance-of-payments series above.

Where each province’s exports go

The national shares hide large differences between provinces. This chart shows each province’s goods exports in 2025 by destination, as shares of the province’s total. Each bar is shaded by product: the darkest segment is energy products, the middle one metal and non-metallic mineral products (the section that holds unwrought gold), and the lightest everything else, including metal ores. The dropdown switches to dollars. The two legends show any combination of destinations and products: clicking a product hides that segment in every bar, so the chart can show energy exports alone, or one destination alone. The United States took 85% of Alberta’s exports and 72% of Ontario’s, but 51% of British Columbia’s, where China took 20%. The European Union’s largest provincial share was Newfoundland and Labrador’s, at 43%, mostly energy products and metal ores (88% of its exports to the European Union), and its largest dollar amount Quebec’s, at $12.5 billion (11% of that province’s exports). Provinces are ordered by total exports. The three territories are left off; the largest of them exported $1.2 billion. Customs basis: exports are counted by the province where the goods were produced, so these figures do not sum to the balance-of-payments series above. The United Kingdom is a fourth partner, hidden by default: Ontario sent it $42 billion, 16% of the province’s exports, and 97% of that was metal and non-metallic mineral products, the section that holds unwrought gold. Hover any segment for its share.

Trade balance: the US vs. the rest of the world

Canada runs a large merchandise surplus with the United States and a deficit with every other market combined, so the overall trade balance hinges on the US relationship. (Monthly, seasonally adjusted; balance = exports − imports.)

The balance with the US: energy and everything else

The goods balance is not one thing. This chart splits it into energy products and everything else, as 12-month running totals in current dollars. Goods only: trade in services is measured separately and shown in the next chart. Imports are counted by the country they were exported from, so the figures track goods physically shipped from the United States. This chart is on the customs basis; the balance-of-payments figures above differ modestly by construction.

Goods, services, and the total balance

Goods are only part of the trade relationship. Canada also buys and sells services: travel, transport, and commercial services such as software, finance, and intellectual property. This chart shows the balance with the United States on the balance-of-payments basis, annually: goods, services, and the two combined. The goods figure here differs slightly from the customs-basis chart above; the two systems attribute and value trade differently.

The Canadian dollar

The exchange rate against the US dollar, Canada’s dominant trading partner. Shown as the Bank of Canada publishes it: Canadian dollars per US dollar, so a higher line means a weaker loonie. The line is the Bank’s daily average rate from January 2017 and, before that, the monthly average of its noon rate back to October 1950 (the Bank retired the noon rate in 2017). Over those years to 2016 the monthly average ranged from C$0.95 per US dollar in October 1959 to C$1.60 in January 2002. The chart opens on the years since 1999; the slider beneath it reaches the whole record.

The loonie doesn’t move in lockstep against every currency. Indexed to 2017 (the start of the daily series), this compares its value against the US dollar, the euro, and the Japanese yen. A rising line means the loonie has weakened against that currency.

Current account balance

Canada’s current account balance as a share of GDP. This is the broadest measure of our trade and income position with the rest of the world: it adds trade in services, investment income, and transfers to the goods trade shown above. Below zero is a deficit (the country spends and invests more than it earns abroad, financed by borrowing or selling assets to foreigners); above zero is a surplus.

Latest current account balance: ranked

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