09/11/2026
Canada's July trade numbers contained a milestone that would have sounded pretty ambitious only a few years ago, with exports to countries beyond the U.S. reaching a record 25.6 billion dollars, a number that arrived with relatively little fanfare given its scale. That was the third straight monthly increase in a row, and non-U.S. destinations accounted for 33.7 percent of Canadian goods exports during July, a meaningfully larger share than in recent years past. The Netherlands drove much of the jump through purchases of Canadian iron ore, nuclear fuel, and crude oil, while Germany bought more copper ore and China increased purchases across several different categories at once. Exports to the European Union specifically climbed more than 31 percent in a single month, one of the strongest monthly increases on record for that particular trading relationship. There is some useful perspective in the broader numbers too, since Canadian exports to the U.S. fell 6.6 percent in July and the country's overall merchandise trade surplus narrowed sharply during the same period. Canada still sends roughly two-thirds of its goods exports south of the border, so diversification remains a genuine long-term project rather than something a handful of record months can fully complete on their own. The encouraging part is that Canadian exporters are proving they can move serious volumes elsewhere when the incentive is there.