Trade and gender: The Canada-Netherlands story

Two-way Canadian merchandise trade with the Netherlands averaged $9.6 billion annually during 2018 and 2019. This was up 46.7% compared to 2016 – the last full year before preferential tariff treatment under CETA was put into force in 2017.

In 2019, Canada exported $5,183 million in goods to the Netherlands and imported $4,663 million worth of goods.

In Canada, 21,203 jobs are directly or indirectly supported by merchandise exports to the Netherlands. Women hold 6,935 of these jobs.

Top 5 industries

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

• Wholesale trade: 646
• Finance and insurance: 646
• Professional, scientific and technical services: 573
• Administration support, waste management, and remediation services: 513
• Transportation and warehousing: 504

The number of Canadian businesses exporting goods to the Netherlands in 2019 was 1,920, while the number of Canadian businesses importing goods from the Netherlands was 7,681.

Women-owned and equally owned businesses in 2017:

• Export value: 14.8%
• Import value: 13.5%
• Exporters: 21.5%
• Importers: 24.0%

Men-owned businesses in 2017:

• Export value: 85.2%
• Import value: 86.5%
• Exporters: 78.5%
• Importers: 76.0%

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

Notes: Women-, men- and equally owned businesses refer to Canadian-controlled private corporations. The reported fractions are of those for which data on gender of ownership are available.

Direct jobs: Initial trade transactions support jobs directly.

Indirect Jobs: Additional jobs supported indirectly due to an increase in business-to-business (e.g. supply chain) transactions that result from the initial trade.

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.