Canada's Services Trade
With the World
Notes
The Library of Parliament's Trade and Investment series provides information on Canada's trade and investment relationship with the world and with selected countries. It also describes the trade relationship of each of Canada's 10 provinces and three territories with the world. In addition, it presents Canada's merchandise trade relationship with each of the United States' 50 states.
All figures were prepared using Statistics Canada data available in summer 2018, with three exceptions: “Share of the Total Value of Global Services Trade”, “Exports as a Percentage
of Gross Domestic Product” and “Imports as a Percentage of Gross Domestic Product.” Those figures use services trade data from the World Trade Organization and gross domestic product (GDP) data from the International Monetary Fund.
To see the data tables used to generate the figures, view the HTML version of this profile at Trade and Investment Series 2017.
The services trade data are balance of
payments‑based.
Numbers in this profile have been rounded.
All dollar amounts are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.
Definitions appear at the end of this profile.
Definitions are available.
In the “Destinations for Exports by Region” and “Sources of Imports by Region” figures, the “Other” category includes trade with international institutions and transactions that could not be allocated to any geographical area.
The categories identified in the “Commercial Services by Selected Categories” figure are the seven highest-valued services export categories in 2017.
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Michaël Lambert‑Racine
Economics, Resources and International Affairs Division
Parliamentary Information and Research Service
Publication No. 2018-502-E
August 2018
Canada's Services Trade With the World
Canada's services trade with the world in 2017: $251.1 billion
- Exports: $113.1 billion, a 3.9% increase from 2016
- Imports: $138.0 billion, a 4.4% increase from 2016
Services trade deficit in 2017: $24.8 billion, an increase from $23.3 billion in 2016
Exports in 2017: 1.6% of the total value of global exports, a decrease from 1.7% in 2016
Imports in 2017: 2.0% of the total value of global imports, unchanged from 2016
Canada's exports as a percentage of Canadian GDP in 2017: 5.3%, unchanged from 2016
Global exports as a percentage of global GDP in 2017: 6.7%,
an increase from 6.6% in 2016
Canada's imports as a percentage of Canadian GDP in 2017: 6.4%,
a decrease from 6.5% in 2016
Global imports as a percentage of global GDP in 2017: 6.5%,
unchanged from 2016
Canada's Services Trade Destinations and Sources
Major destinations for services exports, by region, in 2016:
- United States – 54.9%,
with a value of $59.8 billion - Europe – 19.7%,
with a value of $21.5 billion - Asia – 11.2%,
with a value of $12.1 billion - Americas (excluding the United States) – 7.7%,
with a value of $8.4 billion - Africa – 2.2%,
with a value of $2.4 billion
Major destinations for services exports, by country, in 2017:
- United States – 57.6%
- United Kingdom – 6.0%
- China – 3.3%
- France – 2.7%
- Switzerland – 2.2%
Major sources of services imports, by region, in 2016:
- United States – 55.5%,
with a value of $73.4 billion - Europe – 20.5%,
with a value of $27.2 billion - Asia – 11.5%,
with a value of $15.2 billion - Americas (excluding the United States) – 8.9%,
with a value of $11.8 billion - Middle East – 1.2%,
with a value of $1.6 billion
Major sources of services imports, by country, in 2017:
- United States – 58.5%
- United Kingdom – 6.2%
- Hong Kong – 3.4%
- Mexico – 2.6%
- France – 2.5%
Largest services trade deficit in 2016: United States, at $13.5 billion
Largest services trade surplus in 2016: Africa, at $842.0 million
Canada's Services Trade by Type
Canada's services exports to the world in 2017:
- Commercial services – $68.1 billion, a 1.1% increase from 2016
- Travel services – $26.4 billion, a 10.5% increase from 2016
- Transportation and government services – $18.6 billion, a 5.5% increase from 2016
Canada's services imports from the world in 2017:
- Commercial services – $67.2 billion, a 1.2% increase from 2016
- Travel services – $41.3 billion,
a 8.5% increase from 2016 - Transportation and government services – $29.5 billion, a 6.1% increase from 2016
Services trade deficits in 2017:
- Travel services: $14.9 billion, an increase from $14.2 billion in 2016
- Transportation services: $11.2 billion, an increase from
$10.5 billion in 2016
Services trade surpluses in 2017:
- Commercial services – $1.0 billion, unchanged from 2016
- Government services – $381.0 million, an increase from $370.0 million in 2016
Highest-valued categories of commercial services exports in 2017:
- Professional and management consulting services – $14.7 billion
- Technical and trade-related
services – $14.4 billion
Highest-valued categories of commercial services imports in 2017:
- Royalties and licence fees – $14.2 billion
- Professional and management consulting services – $13.4 billion
Travel services exports in 2017:
- Personal – $22.8 billion, a 10.5% increase from 2016
- Business – $3.6 billion, a 10.3% increase from 2016
Travel services imports in 2017:
- Personal – $36.2 billion, an 8.4% increase from 2016
- Business – $5.2 billion, an 8.9% increase from 2016
Transportation services exports in 2017:
- Air – $7.7 billion,
a 5.7% increase from 2016 - Land – $5.8 billion,
a 3.8% increase from 2016 - Water – $3.5 billion,
a 10.1% increase from 2016
Transportation services imports in 2017:
- Air – $11.7 billion,
a 7.9% increase from 2016 - Water – $12.6 billion,
a 6.5% increase from 2016 - Land – $3.9 billion,
a 1.8% increase from 2016