Trade and gender: The Canada-European Union story

Two-way Canadian merchandise trade with the EU averaged $94.7 billion annually during 2018 and 2019. This was up 25.5% compared to 2016 —the last full-year before preferential tariff treatment under CETA was applicable.

In 2019, Canada exported $28,507 million in goods to the European Union and imported $68,157 million worth of goods.

In Canada, 112,613 jobs are directly or indirectly supported by merchandise exports to the European Union. Women hold 36,032 of these jobs.

Top 5 Industries

Jobs held by women that are directly or indirectly supported by goods exports to the European Union:

• Wholesale trade: 3,830
• Finance and insurance: 2,927
• Professional, scientific and technical services: 2,708
• Retail trade: 2,605
• Transportation and warehousing: 2,562

The number of Canadian businesses exporting goods to the European Union in 2019 was 8,298, while the number of Canadian businesses importing goods from the European Union was 48,188.

Women-owned and equally owned businesses in 2017:

• Export value: 18.0%
• Import value: 17.5%
• Exporters: 21.4%
• Importers: 26.2%

Men-owned businesses in 2017:

• Export value: 82.0%
• Import value: 82.5%
• Exporters: 78.6%
• Importers: 73.8%

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

Notes: - Women-, men- and equally owned businesses refer to Canadian-controlled private corporations. The reported fractions are those for which data on gender ownership are available. The United Kingdom has been excluded from the numbers. Jobs numbers only include Canada's 11 largest EU export partners: Germany, Netherlands, France, Italy, Belgium, Spain, Ireland, Finland, Latvia, Poland, Sweden. This accounts for about 92% of exports to the EU in 2019.

Sources: Statistics Canada, Canadian Employer-Employee Dynamics Database 2017, Trade by Exporter Characteristics 2017, Trade by Importer Characteristics 2017 and Canadian Merchandise Trade Database 2019.