For the first time in ten months, Statistics Canada is reporting a trade surplus with the rest of the world, exporting more than it imported in December.
According to a Statistics Canada report for December, Canada’s merchandise exports increased by 4.9 per cent, and its imports increased by 2.3 per cent from November.
This change brought Canada’s trade balance of physical goods with the rest of the world from a $986 million deficit in November to a $708 million surplus in December.
The same month reported a 0.8-per-cent increase in service exports to $18.1 billion. Canada also saw a 1.2-per-cent decrease in service imports bringing the value of imports to $18.2 billion.
When combining international trade in goods and services Canadian exports rose 4.1 per cent to $87.6 billion in December, and imports increased 1.6 per cent to $86.9 billion.
This flipped Canada’s $1.4 billion total trade deficit with the world in November to a $641 million surplus in December.
U.S. President Donald Trump has noted Canada’s apparent trade deficit with the U.S. and has called for Ottawa to balance the books with the U.S. during talks of tariffs against Canada.
The combined annual trade value between the U.S. and Canada surpassed the $1 trillion mark for a third consecutive year in 2024.
“For trade in services, Canada consistently posts deficits with the United States, mainly because of travel services,” the Statistics Canada report said. “When trade in goods and services are combined, Canada recorded an overall trade surplus of $94.4 billion with the United States in 2023.”
At the same time, Statistics Canada reports that the U.S. was the destination of 75.9 per cent of Canada’s total exports and was the source of 62.2 per cent of Canada’s total imports.
Canada’s merchandise trade surplus with the United States amounted to $102.3 billion for the year 2024, a narrowing compared with the surplus of $108.3 billion observed in 2023.
The report notes exports to the U.S. rose five per cent in December, while imports from the U.S. fell by 1.5 per cent. This widened Canada’s trade surplus with the U.S. from $8.2 billion in November to $11.3 billion in December.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau the U.S. ran a $63.34-billion merchandise trade deficit with Canada in 2024 and a $64.26 billion deficit in 2023, though these stats exclude services.
However, energy makes up a huge portion of the U.S. trade with Canada. In 2023 the U.S. reported a $94 billion deficit with Canada last year in oil and gas. When energy trade, such as crude oil and natural gas, are excluded, the same data would give the U.S. a $30-billion trade surplus for goods.
The Statistics Canada report said Canada exported $176.2 billion worth of energy products to other countries with “the vast majority of those exports” going to the U.S. While Canada comparatively imported $39 billion worth of energy products in 2024, with the U.S. also being the key supplier.
The U.S. Census Bureau suggests that discrepancies between U.S. and Canadian data are due to several differences in how each country measures and collects data among other factors such as exchange rates.
It said one such factor contributing to the difference is that Canada measures imports based on country of origin. So if U.S. exports are shipped from a third country they are counted as being a U.S. export. While the U.S. values exports at the port of exit.
Other differences include the way the two countries measure re-exports. The U.S. Census report said that the U.S. counts re-exports while Canada doesn’t. It said re-exports to Canada for December were over $4.4 billion.
Statistics Canada was not immediately available to respond to the differences in the data collection process.
The report notes that the average value of the Canadian dollar decreased “sharply for a third consecutive month.” It said the loonie fell 1.3 cents USD in December marking the largest monthly decline for the year.
