By Jamie Barrie W ith current FAFTA negotiations between Canada, the USA and Mexico in the news and trade between Canada and the United States is a current hot button with President With that Trump has been on a rant about Canada having an unfair trade surplus with the United States. We had to take a closer look, and for January, Trump might be correct. According to Stats Canada data, in January of this year, Canada exported $34.1 billion worth of goods to the United States and imported $30.9 billion from the United States. So, Canada did indeed have a trade surplus in goods with the U.S. of about $3.1 billion in January. In saying that, these figures only include trade in goods. If services are included, the United States has a small annual trade surplus with Canada. What about Canada’s trade with the rest of the world? Well in January the Canadian economy imported $47.7 billion in goods while exporting $45.8 billion making the gap between what Canada buys from the rest of the world and what it sells $1.9 billion in January. This might not seem like good news however, that is down from an all-time high of $3.1 billion in December. This does show that Canadian’s economy continues to move in the right direction. At the same time, it also shows that the Unites States will look to close this gap as FAFTA negotiations continue. Donald Trump.
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • MARCH 2018
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