{"id":32700,"date":"2026-05-05T13:29:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T13:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/32700\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T13:29:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T13:29:10","slug":"canada-swings-to-trade-surplus-in-march-on-surge-in-crude-prices-and-gold-exports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/32700\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada swings to trade surplus in March on surge in crude prices and gold exports"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Shipping containers in the Port of Montreal.Christopher Katsarov\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s merchandise trade balance swung to a surplus in March as higher crude oil prices and surging demand for gold drove a sharp jump in exports while imports declined, data showed on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Statistics Canada said the country posted a $1.78-billion surplus in March, compared with a $5.11-billion deficit in the prior month.<\/p>\n

It was the first time in six months that Canada posted a surplus as the war in Iran boosted crude oil prices lifting the value of exports from Canada. While gold prices fell, global demand for the precious metal helped boost exports further.<\/p>\n

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a deficit of $2.88-billion.<\/p>\n

Total exports rose 8.5 per cent to $72.8-billion, aided by a 24-per-cent increase in metal and non-metallic product export category to a record high and 15.6-per-cent increase in energy exports, which scaled its highest level since September, 2022, StatsCan said.<\/p>\n

Barring these two categories, Canada\u2019s exports posted a modest 1.1-per-cent increase in value terms and slipped 0.3 per cent in volume terms.<\/p>\n

Following a 24.9-per-cent increase in February, exports of motor vehicles and parts rose 4.5 per cent in March, the statistics agency said.<\/p>\n

U.S. surplus<\/p>\n

Higher crude oil prices and increased shipments of passenger cars and light trucks drove Canada\u2019s exports to the U.S. by 8.3 per cent to $48.51-billion in March, its highest level in a year. Imports from the U.S. dropped by 1.2 per cent to $41.44-billion.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s trade surplus with the U.S. reached its highest in six months to $7.1-billion and its share of exports to the U.S. dropped to 66.7 per cent, its lowest ever.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump has slapped a range of tariffs on Canada, as he has tried to shrink his country\u2019s trade deficit with its neighbor.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s exports to countries other than the U.S. hit yet another record high in March. Exports to non-U.S. countries rose 9.1 per cent in March while imports from countries other than the United States fell 2.2 per cent in March, data showed. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Shipping containers in the Port of Montreal.Christopher Katsarov\/The Canadian Press Canada\u2019s merchandise trade…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[164,224,238,214,212,239,17,211,230,231,227,213,210,235,171,234,143,222,249,215,216,229,225,226,219,240,220,244,245,247,242,246,94,243,217,142,233,113,232,241,223,236,237,228,221,218,248],"class_list":{"0":"post-32700","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-life-news","31":"tag-lifestyle","32":"tag-local-news","33":"tag-manitoba","34":"tag-national-news","35":"tag-new-brunswick","36":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","37":"tag-northwest-territories","38":"tag-nova-scotia","39":"tag-nunavut","40":"tag-ontario","41":"tag-pei","42":"tag-photos","43":"tag-political-news","44":"tag-political-opinion","45":"tag-politics","46":"tag-politics-news","47":"tag-quebec","48":"tag-sports-news","49":"tag-technology","50":"tag-travel","51":"tag-trudeau","52":"tag-us-news","53":"tag-world-news","54":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}