Canada–Mexico
Mexico's Profile
Economic Indicators
- Gross domestic product (GDP) at purchasing power parity (PPP): US$2.5 trillion (2018)
- GDP per capita at PPP: US$20,000 (2018)
- Population: 126.2 million (2018)
- International merchandise exports and imports: 75.8% of GDP at official exchange rates (2018)
- Canada’s 3rd largest merchandise trade partner (2018)
- Canada’s 7th largest services trade partner (2017)
- Ease of Doing Business ranking: 54th among 190 countries (2018)
- World Competitiveness ranking: 46th among 140 countries (2018)
Notable Trade and Investment Agreements between Canada and Mexico
- North American Free Trade Agreement (1994)
- Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (2018)
- Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement (signed, but agreement not in force)
- Canada–Pacific Alliance Free Trade Agreement (under negotiation)
Fundamentals
The Series
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;
- describes the trade relationship of each of Canada’s 10 provinces and three territories with the world; and
- presents Canada’s merchandise trade relationship with each of the United States’ 50 states.
All dollar amounts are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.
Numbers have been rounded.
Definitions are available.
Definitions appear at the end of this profile.
This Profile
The merchandise trade data are customs-based; the services trade data and foreign direct investment data are balance of payments–based.
The five most highly valued merchandise export and import categories have been identified using values for 2018.
All figures were prepared using Statistics Canada data available in summer 2019.
For the data tables used to generate the figures, see the HTML version of this profile at Trade and Investment Series 2018.
The Sources for the “Economic Indicators” Section
World Bank’s World Development Indicators database
- GDP at PPP, GDP per capita at PPP, population, and international merchandise exports and imports as a share of GDP
Statistics Canada
- Merchandise and services trade rankings
World Bank’s Doing Business project
- Ease of Doing Business ranking
World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report
- World Competitiveness ranking
- To display precise values: Hover over data points, bars and segments.
- To show or hide certain elements of a bar chart or a chart with plotted points: Click on their names in the legend.
- To highlight specific segments of a pie chart: Click on the segments and/or rotate the chart.
In addition, you can download each chart individually to multiple formats by clicking on the "Download figure" button at the top right of the chart. Before downloading bar charts and charts with plotted points, you may turn datasets on or off.
Andrés León
Economics, Resources and International Affairs Division
Parliamentary Information and Research Service
Publication No. 2019-519-E
28 August 2019
Canada's Merchandise Trade with Mexico
Bilateral merchandise trade in 2018: $45.0 billion
- Exports: $8.2 billion, a 4.6% increase from 2017
- Imports: $36.8 billion, a 3.7% increase from 2017
Trade deficit in 2018: $28.6 billion, an increase from $27.6 billion in 2017
Exports in 2018: 1.4% of the total value of Canadian exports, unchanged from 2017
Imports in 2018: 6.2% of the total value of Canadian imports, a decrease from 6.3% in 2017
Highest-valued exporters in 2018:
- Ontario – $3.3 billion, an increase from $3.2 billion in 2017
- Quebec – $2.1 billion, an increase from $1.8 billion in 2017
Exports in 2018:
- Resource-based goods – 15.5%, a decrease from 18.2% in 2017
- Manufactured goods – 84.5%, an increase from 81.8% in 2017
Highest-valued exports in 2018: Motor vehicle parts and canola seeds, together accounting for 22.9% of the total value of Canadian exports to Mexico
- Motor vehicle parts:
$1.2 billion, an increase from $970.9 million in 2017 - Canola seeds:
$698.7 million, a decrease from $939.3 million in 2017
Imports in 2018:
- Resource-based goods – 7.0%, a decrease from 7.1% in 2017
- Manufactured goods – 93.0%, an increase from 92.9% in 2017
Highest-valued imports in 2018: Motor vehicles and motor vehicle parts, together accounting for 20.4% of the total value of Canadian imports from Mexico
- Motor vehicles: $4.7 billion, an increase from $4.1 billion in 2017
- Motor vehicle parts: $2.8 billion, unchanged from 2017
Largest merchandise trade deficit in 2018: Machinery and equipment, at $12.6 billion
Largest merchandise trade surplus in 2018: Forest products, at $126.9 million
Canada's Services Trade with Mexico
Bilateral services trade in 2017: $4.8 billion
- Exports: $1.5 billion, a 17.0% increase from 2016
- Imports: $3.3 billion, a 7.0% increase from 2016
Trade deficit in 2017: $1.8 billion, unchanged from 2016
Services trade deficit in 2017: Largely due to travel services trade
Travel services
- Exports: $538.0 million
- Imports: $2.7 billion
Commercial services
- Exports: $804.0 million
- Imports: $338.0 million
Transportation and government services
- Exports: $157.0 million
- Imports: $283.0 million
Canada's Foreign Direct Investment with Mexico
Stock of Canadian direct investment in Mexico in 2018: $22.5 billion, a 15.2% increase from 2017
Mexico as a destination for Canadian foreign direct investment among the 134 countries for which data were available for 2018: 10th largest
Stock of Mexican direct investment in Canada in 2018: $2.7 billion, unchanged from 2017
Mexico as a source of foreign direct investment in Canada among the 59 countries for which data were available for 2018: 22nd largest
1.8% of Canada’s foreign direct investment stock was in Mexico in 2018, an increase from 1.7% in 2017
0.3% of the foreign direct investment stock in Canada was of Mexican origin in 2018, unchanged from 2017