Trade and gender: The Canada-United Kingdom story

Canada and the United Kingdom enjoy a long-standing and robust commercial relationship. In 2021, the United Kingdom was Canada’s third-largest trading partner by value of combined trade in merchandise and services.

In 2021, Canada exported $16.2 billion in merchandise to the United Kingdom and imported $7.9 billion in merchandise.

In Canada, 58,406 jobs were directly or indirectly supported by merchandise exports to the United Kingdom in 2020, 16,658 of which were occupied by Canadian women.

Top 5 industries

Number of direct and indirect jobs occupied by Canadian women that are supported by merchandise exports to the United Kingdom in 2020:

• Manufacturing (miscellaneous): 1,909 jobs
• Finance and insurance: 1,606 jobs
• Professional, scientific and technical services: 1,392 jobs
• Wholesale trade: 1,325 jobs
• Mining (excluding oil and gas extraction): 1,256 jobs

The number of Canadian businesses exporting merchandise to the United Kingdom in 2020 was 3,637, while the number of Canadian businesses importing merchandise from the United Kingdom was 9,567.

Women-owned and equally-owned Canadian businesses that traded with the United Kingdom in 2018:

• Export value: 24.9%
• Import value: 12.4%
• Exporters: 21.5%
• Importers: 23.8%

Men-owned Canadian businesses that traded with the United Kingdom in 2018:

• Export value: 75.1%
• Import value: 87.6%
• Exporters: 78.5%
• Importers: 76.2%

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

Note:

• 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.

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