Canadian exports to US fell most in five years in March

Bloomberg says Canada saw its exports to the US falling in March, with shipments to other countries soaring. 

Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods, combined with Canada’s retaliatory duties, resulted in a significant pullback in trade activity between the two countries in March. According to Statistics Canada data, exports to the US dropped by 6.6%. It marked the steepest decline since the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, imports from the US to Canada dipped 2.9%. 

Yet, shipments of Canadian goods to other countries jumped 24.8%, and imports from countries besides the United States were up 1%. This resulted in Canada’s trade deficit with the world shrinking to 506 million Canadian dollars ($369.5 million) in March, down from 1.4 billion Canadian dollars ($1.02 billion) a month earlier. 

Canada’s trade surplus with its southern neighbor narrowed to 8.4 billion Canadian dollars ($6.09 billion) from 10.8 billion Canadian dollars ($7.83 billion) in February. At the same time, Canada's total imports fell 1.5% in March, while exports dropped 0.2%, Bloomberg says.