International merchandise trade for all countries and by Principal Trading Partners, monthly
Canada's monthly international merchandise trade values (imports, exports, and trade balance) for all countries and 27 principal trading partners, on both Customs and Balance of Payments (BOP) bases, unadjusted and seasonally adjusted.
About this dataset
- Trade flow: Export, Import, Trade Balance
- Trading partner: 27 principal countries (2012 benchmark), European Union, All countries aggregate
- Accounting basis: Customs basis, Balance of payments (BOP) basis
- Seasonal adjustment: Unadjusted, Seasonally adjusted
- No services trade — international merchandise (goods) trade only
- No commodity or industry breakdown — total merchandise per partner only (see Table 12-10-0121 for HS commodities or 12-10-0173 for NAICS industries)
- No provincial origin or destination breakdowns — national Canadian totals only
- Countries outside the 2012 top 27 benchmark (e.g., Vietnam, UAE, Chile) are subsumed under 'All countries' and cannot be isolated individually
Measurement notes
- Customs basis: Measures physical movement of merchandise across Canadian borders as documented by CBSA customs declarations. Valued f.o.b. (free on board) port of exit for exports and f.o.b. place of direct shipment for imports.
- Balance of Payments (BOP) basis: Aligns trade statistics with national economic accounting (SNA 2008 / BPM6) by reflecting change of economic ownership between Canadian residents and non-residents. Adjusts customs records for timing differences, inland freight to border, and trade in non-monetary gold.
- Trade Balance concept: StatCan does not calculate or publish a Customs-basis trade balance. The official merchandise trade balance is exclusively available on a Balance of Payments seasonally-adjusted basis.
- Non-additivity of components: The 'All countries' aggregate does not equal the arithmetic sum of individual partner rows due to omitted non-benchmark countries, independent seasonal adjustment, and BOP timing adjustments.
- EU/UK Series break: The European Union partner aggregate includes the United Kingdom through December 2020. Beginning January 2021 (Brexit), the UK is excluded from EU totals, continuing as an independent partner series.
- CBSA CARM estimation (Oct–Dec 2024): Transition to the CBSA Assessment and Revenue Management system created delays in customs import transactions; October–December 2024 import values include StatCan modeled estimates subject to larger subsequent revisions.
| Column | Type | Non-null | Unique | Mean | Min | Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| REF_DATE | object | 100.0% | 55 | — | 2022-01 | 2026-07 |
| GEO | object | 100.0% | 1 | — | Canada | Canada |
| DGUID | object | 100.0% | 1 | — | 2021A000011124 | 2021A000011124 |
| Trade | object | 100.0% | 3 | — | Export | Trade Balance |
| Basis | object | 100.0% | 2 | — | Balance of payments | Customs |
| Seasonal adjustment | object | 100.0% | 2 | — | Seasonally adjusted | Unadjusted |
| Principal trading partners | object | 100.0% | 29 | — | Algeria | United States |
| UOM | object | 100.0% | 1 | — | Dollars | Dollars |
| UOM_ID | int64 | 100.0% | 1 | 81.0 | 81.0 | 81.0 |
| SCALAR_FACTOR | object | 100.0% | 1 | — | millions | millions |
| SCALAR_ID | int64 | 100.0% | 1 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 |
| VECTOR | object | 100.0% | 261 | — | v87008752 | v87009012 |
| COORDINATE | object | 100.0% | 261 | — | 1.1.1.1.1 | 1.3.2.2.9 |
| VALUE | float64 | 100.0% | 8699 | 4,014.8 | -7,169.2 | 80,352.1 |
| STATUS | float64 | 0.0% | 0 | — | — | — |
| SYMBOL | float64 | 0.0% | 0 | — | — | — |
| TERMINATED | float64 | 0.0% | 0 | — | — | — |
| DECIMALS | int64 | 100.0% | 1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Trading Partner | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Algeria | |||||
| All countries | |||||
| Australia | |||||
| Belgium | |||||
| Brazil | |||||
| China | |||||
| European Union | |||||
| France | |||||
| Germany | |||||
| Hong Kong | |||||
| India | |||||
| Indonesia | |||||
| Iraq | |||||
| Italy | |||||
| Japan | |||||
| Mexico | |||||
| Netherlands | |||||
| Norway | |||||
| Peru | |||||
| Russian Federation | |||||
| Saudi Arabia | |||||
| Singapore | |||||
| South Korea | |||||
| Spain | |||||
| Switzerland | |||||
| Taiwan | |||||
| Türkiye | |||||
| United Kingdom | |||||
| United States |
Observations
- Commodity price surge (peak monthly BOP surplus $6.98B) — NOTES.md: Commodity surge & peak surplus
- NAPCS 2022 revision (illicit cannabis estimates introduced) — NOTES.md: Quirks and traps #4
- CBSA CARM rollout (import data estimation window) — NOTES.md: Quirks and traps #6
- Record monthly BOP trade deficit (-$7.17B CAD) — NOTES.md: Value dynamics
Trade Balance Concept: BOP Seasonally-Adjusted Only
Statistics Canada publishes the merchandise trade balance exclusively on a Balance of Payments (BOP) seasonally-adjusted basis. A Customs-basis merchandise balance is explicitly not calculated or published in Table 12-10-0011.
EU/UK Post-Brexit Series Definition
European Union trade aggregates include the United Kingdom through reference month December 2020. Beginning January 2021, the UK is excluded from European Union totals, while United Kingdom bilateral trade continues as an independent partner series.
2012 Partner Benchmark Scope
The 27 individual countries in this table reflect Canada's top 27 trading partners based on 2012 annual merchandise trade data. Emerging trade partners outside the 2012 benchmark are grouped under 'All countries' but cannot be isolated individually here.
CBSA CARM Rollout & Import Data Estimation (Oct–Dec 2024)
Implementation of the CBSA Assessment and Revenue Management (CARM) system on October 21, 2024 caused administrative delays in import transaction receipt. StatCan added modeled estimates to October, November, and December 2024 customs and BOP import figures, which are subject to larger subsequent revisions.
Notes
Canada's monthly bilateral merchandise trade across 27 principal partners reveals 76.3% US export dependence, complete 1997–2026 coverage, and distinct Customs vs Balance of Payments accounting bases.
Validation Checks
External: $780.9B CAD customs / $777.6B CAD BOP (Statistics Canada The Daily (2025-02-05) & CIMT)
Exact match to StatCan annual customs export totals. BOP basis total is $777.6B CAD (~0.4% conceptual difference).
External: 75.9% (BOP basis); total bilateral trade > $1T (Statistics Canada The Daily (2025-02-05) 'Focus on Canada-US merchandise trade')
Customs-basis concentration of 76.3% aligns closely with BOP-basis concentration of 75.9% (<0.5 percentage point difference).
External: -$7.2 billion merchandise trade deficit in 2024 (Statistics Canada The Daily (2025-02-05) 'Exports and imports edge up in 2024')
Exact match to StatCan reported 2024 full-year merchandise trade deficit (widened from $610 million in 2023).
External: US ($595.9B), China ($30.0B), UK ($28.8B), Japan ($15.0B) (Statistics Canada Table 12-10-0011-01 / The Daily (2025-02-05) Table 1)
Rankings and magnitudes align across both Customs and BOP partner series.
External: $102.3 billion (Statistics Canada The Daily (2025-02-05) 'Focus on Canada-US merchandise trade')
Aligns with StatCan reported full-year 2024 bilateral goods surplus with the US.