“In today’s economy, prosperity flows from two streams:
the goods we ship and the expertise we export.”

Trade – Exports and Imports

(Part 2 of 2)

Government Purchases Are Not Reflected
in Import Data

Canada trade professional services and government procurement shape Canada’s trade reality — two elements often missing from merchandise statistics.

Canada’s trade statistics do not distinguish between government‑funded Imports and private‑sector Imports.

• Merchandise import data is collected at the border and categorized by product type and country of origin — not by who purchased the goods. As a result, there is no public dataset showing how much of Canada’s Imports are paid for with taxpayer dollars.
• Government procurement is tracked separately through Public Accounts, departmental spending reports, and defence procurement disclosures, but these systems do not link back to trade data.

That said, government‑funded Imports represent only a small share of Canada’s total import volume.

Even the federal government’s largest import‑heavy categories — defence equipment, medical supplies, specialized machinery, and IT systems — amount to only a few billion dollars per year, compared to more than $800 billion in total annual Imports.

In other words, government purchases matter, but they account for well under one percent of Canada’s total Imports.

Professional Services Are Not Included
in Canada’s Merchandise Trade

Finally, it is essential to recognize that merchandise trade tells only part of the story.

Canada’s monthly trade numbers — the ones showing total Exports, total Imports, and the merchandise trade deficit — capture only physical goods crossing the border.

Canada trade professional services are tracked separately from merchandise data, revealing a more complete picture of economic activity.

• Professional services such as consulting, engineering, legal work, IT services, and financial advisory do not cross the border as tangible products, so they are not included in the merchandise trade reporting.
• Professional services are tracked separately in Canada’s International Trade in Services accounts. According to Statistics Canada’s most recent annual release, Canada exported $231.7 billion in services in 2024 and imported $230.2 billion, resulting in a $1.5 billion services surplus, according to Statistics Canada.

Within this, commercial services — the category that includes consulting, engineering, legal, IT, and scientific services — accounted for $134.7 billion in Exports and $125.0 billion in Imports, according to Statistics Canada.

Where Canada Exports Professional Services

Canada’s commercial services Exports are concentrated in advanced, high‑income markets where demand for consulting, engineering, legal, and IT services is strongest.

Leading destinations include:

• United States
• United Kingdom
• European Union (Germany, France, Netherlands)
• Asia‑Pacific (Japan, South Korea, Singapore)
• Australia and New Zealand

Where Canada Imports Professional Services From

Canada’s Imports of commercial services come from many of the same advanced economies, reflecting global specialization in consulting, IT, legal, and scientific services.

The largest sources include:

• United States
• United Kingdom
• European Union (Ireland, Germany, France)
• India
• Asia‑Pacific (Japan, Singapore)

How These Transactions Are Recorded

When a Canadian company or government department purchases consulting services from a foreign firm, the transaction is recorded as a services import under “Commercial Services – Professional and Management Consulting.”

When a Canadian firm sells consulting services to a foreign client, it is recorded as a services export. None of these transactions appear in the monthly goods‑trade numbers that dominate economic headlines.

Government procurement of consulting services is also tracked separately through Public Accounts, departmental reports, and procurement databases. If the government hires a Canadian consulting firm, it is not an import.

If it hires a foreign consulting firm, it is recorded as a services import — but only in the services trade accounts, not in merchandise trade.

The Bottom Line

When all of these elements are viewed together, a clearer picture of Canada’s trade reality emerges.

• Canada’s merchandise trade numbers capture only physical goods.
• Professional services — including consulting, engineering, legal, IT, and financial services — are recorded entirely separately in the International Trade in Services accounts.
• Government purchases of consulting services do not appear in the goods trade data at all.

Taken together, goods and services paint a more balanced picture of Canada’s overall trade position.

While Canada currently runs a merchandise trade deficit, the country also generates a significant services trade surplus — including more than $231 billion in annual services Exports, with commercial services alone contributing $134.7 billion.

Understanding Canada trade professional services helps clarify how the country offsets its merchandise trade deficit. It also helps clarify how Canada participates in the global economy: through both the physical goods that dominate public attention and the high‑value professional services that quietly strengthen the country’s overall trade position.

What Canada Needs To Do

Canada’s trade performance is not predetermined — it is shaped by the choices we make.

Canada’s long‑term Economic Prosperity depends on our ability to sell more to the world than we buy. The data in this post shows both the opportunities and the challenges: strong domestic demand, rising Imports, a modest merchandise trade deficit, and a services sector that quietly offsets part of the imbalance.

Sustaining and expanding Canada’s prosperity requires deliberate action.  Specifically, Canada must strengthen its capacity to produce, innovate, and compete globally. That means developing Industrial and Economic Strategies that enable Canadian firms to expand into new markets, diversify beyond the United States, and grow high‑value Exports in both goods and services.

In my next post, I will speak to these Strategies in more detail — the policies, investments, and enablers that can help Canada increase its export capacity, reduce structural vulnerabilities, and build a more resilient, prosperous economy for the decades ahead.

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