Canada's 2025 Trade Deficit Widens to 31.3 Billion CAD

OTTAWA — Canada's merchandise trade deficit for 2025 expanded to 31.3 billion Canadian dollars, equivalent to about 22.8 billion U.S. dollars, marking the largest annual shortfall since 2020, according to Statistics Canada data released Thursday. The figure followed deficits of 933 million Canadian dollars in 2023 and 7.2 billion in 2024, reflecting persistent challenges in balancing exports and imports amid fluctuating global commodity prices and trade patterns.

The annual widening stemmed from a 0.2 percent decline in total exports, totaling roughly 707 billion Canadian dollars, while imports grew 2.8 percent to about 738 billion Canadian dollars. Exports fell across seven of 11 major product categories, with energy products leading the downturn at a 6.9 percent decrease, primarily due to lower prices for crude oil and other fuels. This export weakness was nearly offset by a 41.7 percent surge in shipments of unwrought gold, silver, platinum group metals and their alloys, which boosted overall figures. Without this category, exports would have dropped 3 percent for the year.

Imports, meanwhile, were propelled by a 33.6 percent increase in metal ores and nonmetallic minerals,...