Beyond the border: who else Canada sells to and buys from, 2025

Summary

In calendar 2025 the United States took 72.3% of Canada’s merchandise exports and supplied 45.9% of its imports. The companion note, One customer, many products, takes up that relationship. This note looks at everyone else, and at what the partner table shows about whom Canada actually trades with.

The table covers customs-basis merchandise trade, summed from twelve monthly values for 2025, for the United States, the European Union, twenty-six individual countries and the all-countries total. Values are in Canadian dollars. Because the European Union is a bloc and its member countries are also listed, rows must not be added together.

Where Canada sold, outside the United States

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The data behind this graphic

Where Canada sold goods outside the United States, 2025

Item	Value
United Kingdom	C$47 billion
China	C$35 billion
Japan	C$15 billion
Netherlands	C$10 billion
Germany	C$9 billion
Mexico	C$9 billion
South Korea	C$7 billion
France	C$5 billion
Italy	C$4 billion
Belgium	C$4 billion
India	C$4 billion
Hong Kong	C$4 billion

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The United Kingdom was the largest destination after the United States, at C$47 billion. That is 6.0% of exports, more than the 5.5%, or C$43 billion, that went to the European Union as a bloc. China took C$35 billion, Japan C$15 billion, and Mexico C$9 billion. Among European countries, the Netherlands took C$10 billion and Germany C$9 billion.

The size of the United Kingdom figure deserves a flag. On the monthly series, which are on a balance-of-payments basis and are not comparable with the table, exports to the United Kingdom summed to about C$74.9 billion over the twelve months to September 2026, and the series rose sharply during 2025. A single destination changing by that much in a year may mean that one product or a small number of shipments account for much of the movement. The partner table does not break exports into products, so this note cannot say which. A reader who needs to rely on the United Kingdom figure should check the product detail before drawing a conclusion about demand.

Beyond the first few, destinations are small in value. After the top six, they run in single-digit billions: South Korea C$7 billion, France C$5 billion, India C$4 billion, Hong Kong C$4 billion. Taken one by one, each is a small market for Canada, and the aggregate of all non-American destinations is where any diversification would have to come from.

Where Canada bought

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The data behind this graphic

Where Canada bought goods outside the United States, 2025

Item	Value
China	C$91 billion
Mexico	C$53 billion
Germany	C$25 billion
Japan	C$21 billion
South Korea	C$18 billion
Italy	C$14 billion
Brazil	C$12 billion
Switzerland	C$10 billion
France	C$10 billion
United Kingdom	C$10 billion
India	C$10 billion
Taiwan	C$8 billion

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The import side is differently arranged. China was the largest source among individual countries outside the United States, at C$91 billion or 11.5% of imports. Mexico was next among individual countries, at C$53 billion, ahead of Germany at C$25 billion, Japan at C$21 billion and South Korea at C$18 billion. The European Union as a bloc supplied C$92 billion.

Canada’s import sources are numerous. American supply was 45.9% of imports, less than half, and the remainder came from dozens of countries. That breadth is the mirror image of the narrow export picture.

What Canada sold against what it bought

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The data behind this graphic

What Canada sold and what it bought, ten partners

Item	Sold to	Bought from
United Kingdom	C$47 billion	C$10 billion
China	C$35 billion	C$91 billion
Japan	C$15 billion	C$21 billion
Germany	C$9 billion	C$25 billion
Mexico	C$9 billion	C$53 billion
South Korea	C$7 billion	C$18 billion
Italy	C$4 billion	C$14 billion
France	C$5 billion	C$10 billion
India	C$4 billion	C$10 billion
Brazil	C$3 billion	C$12 billion

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The slope graphic pairs each country’s sales and purchases. The relationships fall into three groups.

Net seller. The United Kingdom is the standout: Canada sold C$47 billion and bought C$10 billion. The United States, not shown, is the other large case.

Net buyer. China is the largest: Canada bought C$91 billion and sold C$35 billion. Mexico is the next in scale, with C$53 billion bought against C$9 billion sold. Germany, South Korea, Italy, France, India and Brazil also sold Canada more than they bought from it, by smaller amounts each.

Close to balance. Japan, at C$15 billion sold and C$21 billion bought, is the closest of the large partners.

Canada’s overall goods trade was close to balanced in 2025: exports of C$778 billion against imports of C$789 billion. The near balance is made of a large surplus with the United States and the United Kingdom set against deficits with most other partners. This is a pattern, not a problem in itself. Whether a given balance matters depends on the goods behind it, which this table does not give.

A twenty-year view

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The data behind this graphic

Exports to four destinations

Series	Latest
United Kingdom	C$5.0 billion, September 2026
European Union	C$3.9 billion, September 2026
China	C$4.4 billion, September 2026
Mexico	C$950 million, September 2026

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The monthly series for four destinations show how different the markets are. Exports to China rose for most of the period, from a low base. Exports to Mexico were small, though the twelve months to September 2026, at C$10.8 billion, set a high. Exports to the United Kingdom rose steeply in the last year, to C$5.0 billion in September 2026 from C$3.2 billion a year earlier.

Swipe sideways to see the whole graphic. The data are in the table below.

The data behind this graphic

China: what Canada sells and what it buys

Series	Latest
Imports from China	C$5.9 billion, September 2026
Exports to China	C$4.4 billion, September 2026

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China shows the pattern best. Both imports from and exports to China have risen over twenty years, and the gap between them in dollars has widened, though it has narrowed since 2022. Imports were C$5.9 billion in September 2026, and exports C$4.4 billion. The trade is large in both directions and different in kind, and the chart cannot say how much of the imports are consumer goods, capital equipment or inputs for Canadian production.

Three things that look wrong and are not

A larger United Kingdom figure is not yet proof of a larger market. It led the European Union in 2025 and in each of the latest twelve months, after the European Union led every year from 2021 to 2024. Earlier years cannot be compared, because the European Union series included the United Kingdom. These series do not show which goods drive the swing.

A large deficit is not a loss. Canada’s deficit with China is the difference between two large flows, and the exports to China are substantial. What the table cannot show is how Canadian firms use the imports.

A small share is not a small market for the firms in it. Canada’s sales to India (0.5% of exports) and Australia (0.4%) are small in the total but may be the main market for the firms that make the goods. The table describes the national average.

What this means for decisions

For exporters considering new markets, the table shows where Canadian goods already find buyers outside the United States and at what scale. It does not show the products, the barriers or the competition.

For policymakers thinking about diversification, the arithmetic is plain: the non-American markets are, together, a fraction of the American one, and each is small. Changing the national share quickly would require a large increase in sales to several countries at once, or a change in what Canada sells.

For importers and manufacturers that depend on Chinese, Mexican or European inputs, the table shows how much of Canada’s purchasing comes from those places, and how little of it Canada’s own sales to them offset.

Northline does not offer trade advice. The table describes what happened in one year.

What this does not show

It does not show services trade, the dependence of any province, industry or city on a partner, or how any trade policy would change these shares. It does not break trade into products, so it cannot explain why a balance is large or small. Statistics Canada reports trade by country of destination for exports and country of origin for imports, and goods can be re-exported or transshipped, so a partner’s figure is not always the place where a good was made or finally used. One calendar year cannot show a trend.

Where to read next

One customer, many products takes the American relationship in depth. Canada’s export map shows how provinces differ in what they sell, and where.

Method

Sum of the twelve monthly customs-basis values for calendar 2025 from Statistics Canada table 12-10-0011-01 (unadjusted); share = partner value divided by the all-countries value. Monthly series are on a balance-of-payments basis, seasonally adjusted, from the same table, and are not comparable with the annual customs-basis figures. Source: Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 12-10-0011-01. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada.