Trade and gender: The Canada-The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) story

The amount of 2-way merchandise trade between Canada and countries that have ratified the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) increased by 0.9% in 2019, as compared to 2018—the last full year before preferential tariff treatment under CPTPP was applicable. In 2020, with the onset of COVID-19, merchandise trade fell by 12.3% compared to 2019.

In 2020, Canada exported $23,036 million in goods to the CPTPP ratified countries and imported $55,952 million worth of goods.
In Canada, 131,126 jobs were directly or indirectly supported by merchandise exports to the CPTPP ratified countries in 2019, 41,165 of which were occupied by women.

Top 5 Industries: Number of direct and indirect jobs occupied by women that are supported by goods exports to the CPTPP ratified countries –

• Crop and animal production: 6,077 jobs
• Wholesale trade: 4,292 jobs
• Food manufacturing: 3,237 jobs
• Transportation and warehousing: 3,196 jobs
• Finance and insurance: 3,004 jobs

The number of Canadian businesses exporting goods to the CPTPP ratified countries in 2017 was 6,707, while the number of Canadian businesses importing goods from the CPTPP ratified countries was 32,408.

Women-owned and equally-owned businesses in 2017:

• Export value: 15.3%
• Import value: 16.5%
• Exporters: 20.1%
• Importers: 26.5%

Men-owned businesses in 2017:

• Export value: 84.7%
• Import value: 83.5%
• Exporters: 79.9%
• Importers: 73.5%

Women-owned and equally-owned Canadian businesses make up a larger portion of imports than exports, by both number of importers and value.

Please note that:

• The terms, women-, men- and equally-owned businesses, are used in reference to Canadian-controlled private corporations.
• The reported fractions are those for which data on gender ownership is available.
• As of August 2021, CPTPP had entered into force in seven countries,  Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore and Vietnam. These countries are used in the calculations of total CPTPP bilateral merchandise trade, export and import data and jobs directly or indirectly supported by merchandise exports.
• The CPTPP entered into force in Peru on September 2021. However, the country is not included in the calculations.

Sources: Statistics Canada, Canadian Employer-Employee Dynamics Database, Trade by Exporter Characteristics, Trade by Importer Characteristics and Canadian Merchandise Trade Database.