Trade and gender: The Canada-Chile Story

Since the Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA) took effect in 1997, bilateral merchandise trade between the two countries has increased almost fourfold.

In 2018, Canada exported $984 million in goods to Chile and imported $1.8 billion worth of goods.

In Canada, 5,674 jobs are directly or indirectly supported by merchandise exports to Chile, 1,611 of which are occupied by women.

Top 5 Industries: Number of jobs occupied by women that are supported by exports to Chile -

1. Wholesale trade: 223 jobs
2. Finance and insurance: 148 jobs
3. Crop and animal production: 140 jobs
4. Transportation and warehousing: 117 jobs
5. Professional, scientific and technical services: 107 jobs

More than 1200 Canadian enterprises traded with Chile in 2016.

Women-owned and and equally-owned Canadian businesses played a much bigger role in import than export. Most of these businesses has fewer than 50 employees.

Women-owned and equally-owned businesses in 2016:

• Export value: 10.5%
• Exporters: 16.4%
• Import value: 25.4%
• Importers: 29.9%

Men-owned businesses in 2016:

• Export value: 89.5%
• Exporters: 83.6%
• Import value: 74.6%
• Importers: 70.1%

These numbers are encouraging, but there is more room for Canadian women and women-owned businesses to take advantage of trade opportunities with Chile. Under the CCFTA’s Trade and Gender chapter, Canada and Chile are working together to make it a reality.

Note: 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.

Sources: Canadian Employer-Employee Dynamics Database (CEEDD), 2016, Trade by Exporter Characteristics (TEC), 2016, Trade by Importer Characteristics (TIC), 2016, and Canadian International Merchandise Trade Database 2018