After a year marked with volatility, trade disputes and continued erosion of faith in rules based trade, panelists at the Canadian Crops Conference, held in Toronto in March, explained challenges in the international trade order and what Canada can do to improve its standing.

How can Canada stand out in a globalized market?

“The rest of the world, the rest of the sectors of the global economy, are finally getting to know what it felt like to be agriculture for a number of years,” said Jeff Mahon, director of StrategyCorp.

He pointed to non-tariff barriers and the weaponization of trade.

Canada has sought to overcome challenges through diversification, but Mahon said this may not be as easy as some are making it out to be.

“This whole movement is driven by, you know, roughly 75 per cent of our exports going to the United States. But the last I checked, Canadian agriculture is already pretty diversified,” he said.

“Telling Canadian agriculture it needs to diversify further is like telling a cayenne pepper it needs to be spicy.”

The questions are — how Canada can grow its market share and how reliant Canada should be on bigger markets like China and India. Mahon said it will be important to recognize there may not be alternatives to those markets and Canada will likely need to continue trading in both.

Win-win thinking

In a global market currently favouring buyers, Mahon said Canada may need to find new strategies to stand out.

“In some cases, that might mean selling more processed or value-added goods,” He said. “In other cases, particularly when we’re looking at new markets in developing countries, we might want to think about bringing a bigger Canadian value proposition to them,” he said.

For example, instead of just offering commodities, Canaa can offer access to a network of capability and research.

This is already happening — for example, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s recent trip to India saw the promise of a Canada-India pulse research centre.

“Now you’re using empathy,” Mahon said. “You’re going to a developing country, India, and you’re saying, ‘what do you need from us?’”

In a country like India, where nutritional security is a concern, Mahon said this type of win-win-thinking could be part of Canada’s strength as a partner.

He added that he’d heard a former Indonesian ambassador suggest Canada could help countries build processing capacity, leading to “mandatory supply chains” with Canadian exports at the centre.

Mahon said he would like to see governments rephrase requests to industry to diversify and rather ask what the industry needs to grow market share.

“Diversification and growing exports isn’t going to work unless Canada fixes some of the supply side problems,” he said.

These may not be entirely an industry issue.

“The government might want to look in the mirror a little bit more if it wants to be able to figure out how to help grow agricultural exports.”

Barriers within international trade

One barrier for Canadian agri-food trade in the EU has been the challenge of adapting to regulatory frameworks. The effects of European policies, like the Green Deal, Farm to Fork strategy, can sometimes be felt in Canada.

For example, The European Commission has proposed a bill that would effectively set pesticide tolerances at zero on imported grains, oilseeds, pulses and other agricultural commodities if those pesticides haven’t been approved for use in the EU.

The EU isn’t a primary destination for Canadian grain, oilseeds and pulses, but exports can be significant some years.

European politicians have argued that this levels the playing field so growers outside of Europe don’t have a competative advantage.

The Canadian government is lobbying for predictability said Greg MacDonald, a counsellor with the Mission of Canada to the EU.

Prime Minister Mark Carney is seen as a close friend in many countries, and now the government is attempting to leverage that, MacDonald said.

People shouldn’t think the EU is “closed for business on agriculture trade,” he added.

MacDonald suggested Canada could continue to work with the EU on regulatory alignment.

“How do we make the regulatory frameworks work for Canada with the broad political overview we have that we’re the trusted and reliable partner, and the EU calls us and asks, how can Canada provide product X?”

A loss of faith in rules-based trade

The past year has also seen attacks on the role of rules-based trade.

Edwini Kessie, director of the agriculture and commodities division at the World Trade Organization (WTO) said he felt the core principles of his organization are “under attack.”

He said the non-discrimination principle and the security and predictability of market access have come into question for some.

“These have been the binding core principles of the WTO, but I think increasingly there are questions as to the effectiveness of the WTO rules in creating a level playing field,” Kessie said.

“We see in the EU specifically, regulatory and policy developments that may be shifting away from some core tenants of WTO rules, which adds to uncertainty in the grains and oilseeds trade,” MacDonald said.

Kessie said the solution is not for the global trade system to turn its back on the existing rules and encouraged stakeholders not to give up on the WTO.

“There are changes which have to be made,” he said. “And I do hope that the WTO members will come together and effect the real changes, which will strengthen the rules-based multilateral trading system.”

“The current prosperity that we are witnessing the world is because of the rules-based system,” he said, “so we need to strengthen it.”

WTO ministerial talks in Yaounde, Camaroon at the end of March struggled to make headway on questions of reform and ultimately broke down after the group could not agree on renewing a moratorium on duties for electronic transmissions like digital streaming.

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The 2026 FCC Food and Beverage Report states sales among food and beverage manufacturers are predicted to rise by 0.8 per cent while volumes fall by 0.7 per cent, the fourth straight year of decline. It notes sales growth will likely be driven by higher prices, not higher consumption.

WHY IT MATTERS: With trade tensions still disrupting global supply, prices could fluctuate this year, affecting consumers’ choices.

FCC chief economist Craig Johnston said this disparity speaks to the issue of consumer purchasing power.

“Higher food prices over the past several years are really weighing on households’ budgets,” he said in an interview. “They’re making more cost-conscious decisions.”

“This is actually a headwind for consumption and a headwind for volumes.”

He said any upstream changes will no doubt filter down to Canadian producers. Some challenges are shared across sectors.

“When we think about common elements, you can think about the tariffs, the elevated input costs, generally,” he said.

Margins are tight across the sector, including for farmers.

“We’re not seeing massive improvements on margins within the food and beverage manufacturing sector to pre-COVID levels, and we’re not necessarily seeing that filter through to a broad-based increase in margins for primary ag.”

“The industry in general is still going through this adjustment period” he said, “and we do expect that to continue to 2026.”

Trade tensions still a factor

Canada will continue to grapple with trade uncertainty this year, including the recent instability caused by the conflict in the Middle East.

Forecasts for costs of goods in the Food and Beverage Report were made before the crisis, “meaning that if the commodity price surge persists beyond just a few months, there would be upside risks to those estimates.”

FCC had expected pressures on some inputs, such as cattle and hogs, to ease from 2025 highs, but surging energy prices due to the conflict make that less likely.

Costs of production up

Production costs for food and beverage manufacturers increased by two per cent in 2025, driven mostly by raw material costs.

“The increase in raw material costs was driven by disruptions that constrained availability and raised prices,” the report states.

“Some examples from 2025 include avian influenza impacts on poultry … tariffs that increased the cost of imported aluminum packaging and historically low cattle herd sizes across North America.”

Costs across sectors

The report also breaks down costs associated with sub-sectors of food and beverage processing.

In grain and oilseed milling, sales were uneven in 2025 but improved by the fourth quarter. 2026 shows signs of a rebound in sales and volumes.

Large carryover of canola stocks is expected to keep prices under pressure in 2026. Canola prices are expected to fall by 3.1 per cent in 2026.

The report suggested demand for Canadian maple syrup and honey has continued to increase in the global market.

In the dairy sector, 2026 will likely see a 3.6 per cent increase of product manufacturing sales over 2025. Processors are also expected to pass along costs from the producer price increase for unprocessed milk to consumers.

In the meat manufacturing sector, FCC forecasts sales up 1.6 per cent and volumes down by 5.6 per cent.

Tight supplies of live animals, due largely to disease outbreaks, drove prices up in 2025. According to the report, “2026 will likely see another year where price, not volume, drives sales upward.”

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The cumulative value of those outstanding shares determines the overall value or market capitalization of a company. Of course, those numbers change daily as share prices rise and fall with normal market fluctuations.

WHY IT MATTERS: While Fortune 500-level companies are typically somewhat better insulated against market shocks, reduced market cap can make it more difficult for publicly traded firms to obtain favourable credit or raise capital through share offerings.

Those fluctuations are the result of profits each company reports and the outlook on their future fortunes along with the condition of the overall economy.

Stock markets slide as war upends global trade

In recent days, however, there is another consideration to factor into those market trends: the war in Iran. That gambit, initiated by the Trump administration and Israel’s leadership, has roiled markets around the world.

The U.S. Dow Jones had been riding pretty high despite a global economy upended by U.S. tariff policy.

The Dow had reached a yearly high average on Feb. 10 of more than 50,000. However, the Middle East war cratered it, causing the average to drop to slightly more than 46,000 by March 25. Almost every other market around the world saw significant declines as well.

At the same time, oil prices have reached higher than US$100 per barrel as global supply is choked down by roughly 20 per cent due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, impacting urea fertilizer prices as well.

Iran war strikes at agriculture

All of this has affected the input costs farmers will face this year, but it has also had a negative impact on the market value of farm machinery manufacturers.

As their profitability and share prices were starting to rise from a low point in the cyclical equipment demand cycle, the stock market declines have caused significant reductions in the valuation of those companies.

Here’s a look at just how much the market capitalization of those brands had fallen from mid-February to late March:

John Deere shares peaked just before the war on Feb. 24 at US$664. By March 25, those share values had dropped $82. With about 270.1 million shares outstanding, that represents a market capitalization loss of roughly $22 billion.

Agco shares peaked Feb. 13, and by March 25 had seen a $1.7 billion valuation reduction.

CNH Industrial, parent company of Case IH and New Holland, realized a $2.5 billion decline. In the automotive sector, the story is the same. For example, Ford saw its market value decline by more than $8 billion.

The situation is the same for nearly all publicly traded companies listed on many different stock exchanges around the world, meaning globally, companies collectively have probably lost trillions of dollars in market value, at least temporarily.

Financial market fallout

At the same time, financial analysts are sounding the alarm over the possibility of insider trading on the U.S. stock market related to government announcements, with unusual trading patterns observed that could have netted millions for unidentified entities just minutes before a White House announcement.

More than a few analysts are now questioning the integrity of the U.S. stock market as a result. Since the current administration took office, the ability of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to prosecute violations has reportedly been significantly reduced.

This comes at a time when foreign investment in U.S. government treasury bonds is declining, reportedly due to a lack of confidence in the administration. Those bonds help finance the government’s deficit. Without continued investment, the U.S. treasury will find itself in a bind.

Add to that the recent increase in global oil trades conducted in yuan, rather than the standard U.S. dollar transaction, which came to be known as the petro-dollar.

The so-called petro-dollar has helped prop up demand for U.S. currency for decades. That has been an economic boon for the United States, but the continued decline in U.S.-dollar oil transactions would lead to significantly reduced demand for greenbacks.

As a lack of confidence in the U.S. among investors, trading partners and allies grows, there could be a very rocky road ahead for the U.S. economy, and the valuations of U.S.-based corporations could continue to take a beating.

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With agriculture and intellectual property both on the agenda at the WTO’s 14th ministerial conference (MC14), running March 26 to 29 at Yaoundé in Cameroon, CropLife International on March 25 called on WTO member governments to “uphold agricultural resilience and productivity and prevent unnecessary trade barriers.”

That said, reform of the WTO itself, particularly its dispute settlement system is a priority on the MC14 agenda, the WTO said in a separate release earlier this month.

“The WTO has long spoken of unfinished negotiations and long-overdue reform, yet too often our promises have outpaced our results,” WTO director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said. “This conference must demonstrate that this time is different.”

The multilateral, rules-based trading system the WTO represents “plays a critical role in advancing global food security,” said CropLife International CEO Emily Rees said in a release. The conference “provides an opportunity to reaffirm the core principles on which the WTO was built.”

Brussels-based CropLife, in a brief filed with the WTO, laid out recommendations for the ministerial conference in areas where it says WTO members “can act to promote fair, sustainable and innovative agricultural trade,” including:

• sanitary and phytosanitary complaint approaches that support food security through supply chain resilience;
• protections under the WTO agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS), and
• sustainable agricultural development.

Concerns around sanitary, phytosanitary issues

CropLife called on the WTO to “uphold risk-based approaches” as the foundation for sanitary and phytosanitary measures keeping with the WTO’s agreement. It also would see reinforcement of the Codex Alimentarius — the standards for international food safety — together with the International Plant Protection Convention and World Organization for Animal Health, as “the reference international standard-setting bodies for food safety, plant health, and animal health.”

It called on WTO members to work to resolve outstanding trade concerns around sanitary and phytosanitary issues — especially those related to pesticide maximum residue levels and to avoid such problems at the outset.

CropLife also asked member countries to safeguard the WTO’s TRIPS agreement to drive “agricultural innovation and sustainable growth” and see that patent protection, plant variety rights, regulatory data protection and other IP mechanisms are maintained and strengthened.

As for sustainable development, CropLife called on member countries to seek “inclusive, outcome-focused, and science-based approaches that balance economic, social and environmental objectives, while avoiding unnecessary barriers to trade or innovation.”

It also urged members to avoid “one-size-fits-all or prescriptive requirements” so there’s flexibility for regional approaches that fit local conditions. Member countries’ governments should also not impose sustainability policies on other jurisdictions.

Ag trade

According to WTO briefing notes prepared for MC14, since member countries began negotiations on agriculture in 2000, the value of ag trade has grown to US$1.494 trillion in 2024, from about US$300 billion.

The average applied tariff on agricultural goods, including trade preferences, dropped from 13 per cent in 2005 to 5.7 per cent in 2023, the WTO said, but added that ag and food markets “remain highly distorted,” with support to individual producers estimated at about US$624 billion per year on average in the 2022-24 period.

Recently, “new tensions related to trade and other issues have complicated the challenge of making progress,” the WTO said.

Leading up to MC14, member countries have tabled several submissions on agriculture, trade and food security. These aim to provide guidance on “how to revitalize the agriculture negotiations and overcome (a) persisting stalemate.”

Earlier this month the chair of the agriculture negotiating body, Pakistan’s Ali Sarfraz Hussain, tabled a draft text reflecting members’ submissions.

Most members indicate the text could serve as a basis for further discussion, the WTO said, but “a small number of members stated that they were unable to support it in its current form.”

A call to overhaul trade

On the opening day of meetings, WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala called on countries to overhaul global trade rules, telling them the old world order had gone for good, following a year of turmoil sparked by U.S. tariffs and wider geopolitical tensions.

Okonjo-Iweala set out a list of problems facing the World Trade Organization – including the paralysis of its dispute-settlement mechanism.

“The world order and multilateral system we used to know has irrevocably changed. We will not get it back … We must look to the future,” the WTO Director-General said.

Ahead of the session, some diplomats and trade officials warned that without an agreement on reforms, countries could start abandoning the ideal of a rules-based global trade system, and set their own regulations.

Okonjo-Iweala said the body’s problems over decision-making needed to be tackled. Its current consensus-based model has been regularly stalled by objections from some countries. Some delegates are pushing for the organization to let groups of members form agreements.

She also said there was a lack of transparency over which countries were using subsidies.

“Lack of transparency leads to lack of trust, and that breeds suspicions of unfairness and anti-competitive behaviours,” Okonjo-Iweala told delegates.

This contributed to a “vicious cycle” of mistrust which was holding back members from agreeing new rules and reforms, she added.

The U.S. supports reforms but is resisting a detailed work plan, while the EU, Britain, and China back one, internal reform documents seen by Reuters show.

—with files from Reuters

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WHY IT MATTERS: Conversations between Canadian and American agriculture groups could help set a tone ahead of the CUSMA review this summer.

Hoekstra spoke at the Canadian Crops Convention in Toronto on March 12.

He said tariffs are likely to stay on as cost of doing business in the American market. Canada should “do everything they can to get into the lowest tariff buckets.”

“You can make compelling cases for us to do business with Canada and Canada to get the lowest tariffs of any trading partner in the world,” Hoekstra said.

U.S. and Canadian businesses both need to advocate for that relationship.

Cross-border relationships

Some in the Canadian agriculture sector say that advocacy is already underway.

Michael Harvey, executive director of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance said many Canadians have been advocating for cross-border business relationships. Last fall, CAFTA led a trade mission to Washington D.C. involving 12 national industry groups. The group’s goal was to highlight the importance of renewing the Canada-U.S. Mexico Agreement.

Pierre Petelle, CEO of CropLife Canada, said he has seen U.S. farm groups openly support CUSMA over the last six months — something not common in the early days of the second Trump presidency.

“That puts us in a much, much better position,” he said.

Canada shouldn’t overestimate its value: Hoekstra

When negotiating trade, Hoekstra said Canada must not overestimate its value to the American market.

“We don’t wake up in the morning worried about Canada,” he said. “You don’t find Americans advocating … ‘boycott Canadian products.”

“When you walk into the negotiating team, or you get on TV and you say, ‘America needs our fill-in-the-blank,’ whatever commodity you’re talking about, you’re going to get a certain kind of response,” Hoekstra said.

“Because for just about everything that you bring in, it’s kind of like, ‘no, we really don’t.’”

The U.S. has done a good job of diversifying its markets and cultivating long-term relationships said Darcy Pawlik, executive director of the Wheat Growers Association. This gives some truth to the idea it doesn’t need Canadian imports.

“They’ve done the diversification of their procurement already,” Pawlik said. “Canada, we have really not carried the ball in a mature way, from a trade perspective internationally, from diversifying markets.”

Canada may have some commodities American need, but Pawlik said in many cases it has found other options.

‘We should always aim for free trade’

Hoekstra suggested pitching why doing business with Canada is a “phenomenal deal” for the United States.

“You will get a much different response in Washington than coming in and saying, ‘you absolutely need our stuff.’”

A compelling case could land Canada in the lowest tariff bucket, the ambassador said.

Being in the lowest bucket shouldn’t be Canada’s goal, Pawlik said.

“We need to always aim for zero-tariff,” he said. “We should always aim for free trade.”

“If there’s some points of negotiation that the Canadian government just can’t find a way to work together on and we end up in that lowest tariff bucket, then so be it. But we should never start from a place of being OK with some tariffs. We’ve got to aim for zero.”

Integration of supply chains a key bargaining point

Entering negotiations with a “we have what you need” approach could indeed be harmful, as it will only upset Trump and his administration said Patrick Leblond, a professor at the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, in an email to Glacier FarmMedia.

However, the U.S. is not entirely self-sufficient.

“Yes, Canada has some of what the U.S. needs, but we’re not the only ones,” Leblond wrote, adding the U.S. has more leverage than Canada on this issue.

Petelle said it may be important to consider the integration of Canada-U.S. supply chains as opposed to what goods one country needs over the other.

Whether crop protection products and seed, or processing and feed, the supply chain is “extremely integrated,” he said.

In the seed and crop protection sector, Canada probably needs the U.S. more than it needs Canada, Petelle said.

“We import a lot of our seed directly from the U.S. and other regions. A lot of the manufacturing of crop protection is done in the U.S. … so we’re pretty reliant on the input side for seed and crop protection.”

Canada and the U.S. “really produce food together,” Harvey said citing examples of beef crossing the border to be processed and Canadian wheat going to an American plant before being sent back to Canada.

“We’ve really got this deeply integrated production model, and it would be very negative for American interests for that model to be … gummed up,” he said.

American agri-food sector on board with CUSMA

“I think the most important thing is to have American interests who are in favor of the relationship,” Harvey said, “we’re seeing it really clearly that the American agri-food sector is in favor of continuing the treaty.”

In February, 40 American agricultural organizations formed a coalition to support CUSMA. Nearly 100 Canadian groups made a similar plea in December.

Petelle said this alignment between American and Canadian groups is a positive signal and could mean the beginnings of good negotiations between the two countries.

Despite his assertion there will always be a cost of entry in the American market, Hoekstra said the U.S. is interested in renewing CUSMA.

Pawlik said Canadian commodity groups should start talking with their U.S. counterparts ahead of the CUSMA review this summer.

“Wheat organizations talk to the wheat organizations, you know, and soybeans talk to soybeans… so that when they get to the negotiating floor, they can say, ‘hey, no problem. We’ve actually got industry leading these conversations. We’re figuring out ways to get along.’”

‘Get back to the table’

Hoekstra said negotiations around the trade agreement have been stalled by headwinds from Canada. He said there “hasn’t been a substantive discussion since the end of October” between the two countries.

Petelle said he saw things differently.

“It was interesting to hear the ambassador characterize it as ‘four months lost,’” he said. “Last time I checked, it was the U.S. that broke off the discussions.”

“We’ve had several months of nothing really moving, but I think that decision was theirs last fall,” he continued. “So, the first thing is to get back to the table and start having serious conversations, rather than through the media or through public statements by ambassadors and others.”

Pawlik said many Canadians would do well to have a better understanding of CUSMA and how tightly connected the two countries really are.

“The one thing that we continue to forget is that we are allies, right?” he said. “(We should) treat each other with maybe a little bit more respect than what we’ve been seeing to date, and that should be encouraged amongst all Canadians.”

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“In response to a formal request from the Canadian Association of Vegetable Growers and Processors, the government has directed the Canadian International Trade Tribunal to conduct an inquiry,” federal finance minister François-Philippe Champagne said in a March 13 news release.

A statement via Ottawa government relations consulting firm Maple Leaf Strategies bills the association as “the voice of Canadian vegetable growers, harvesters, employees and processors from coast to coast to coast, working to protect and strengthen the sector from farm to consumer.”

The CITT will have 180 days to decide if imports of frozen and canned vegetables are harming or threatening to cause harm to domestic growers and processors. If so, it will propose remedies to the federal government.

It has also been asked to consider impacts to food affordability and security for Canadians, the news release said.

The CITT, in a separate release March 16, confirmed it has launched the inquiry as requested and will report back to Champagne by Sept. 9.

In its notice of inquiry, the CITT said anyone wanting to make submissions to the tribunal on this matter must file notice by April 2 of their intent to do so, and it will hold its hearing on the inquiry in Ottawa starting June 15.

In an order in council, the government said that it appears importation of increased quantities of vegetables is a result of obligations under the World Trade Organization Agreement and “unforeseen developments in global trade.”

These have led some WTO members to restrict imports of vegetables into their markets, which has led those goods to be diverted into Canada.

In 2024, 55 per cent of Canadian fruit and vegetable preserving and specialty food were imported, according to Farm Credit Canada’s 2025 food and beverage report. That category includes frozen and canned vegetables and fruit, pickling and drying.

The Canadian Association of Vegetable Growers and Processors, in its separate statement, described the government’s move as “an important first step,” saying the domestic frozen and canned vegetable sector “has been facing a sudden surge of low-priced imports that is disrupting the Canadian market. Temporary, rules-based safeguard measures will restore fair competition and allow Canadian growers and processors to compete on equal terms.”

Such measures, it said, “will help stabilize supply chains that retailers and consumers depend on.”

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Speaking on Thursday at the Canadian Crops Convention in Toronto, he said the U.S. believes CUSMA, known as USMCA in the U.S., has worked well but there have been no “substantive” talks with Canada since October.

The Canadian minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade met with his counterpart, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, last week.

“I think we want to get to an agreement, but we are facing some headwinds in the negotiations,” Hoekstra said, citing a lack of “substantive” discussions since October.

Hoekstra said:

• Canada should do everything it can to get into the lowest tariff buckets.
• The U.S. is looking for coalitions with countries that will make sure that if there are trade agreements, then the non-tariff trade barriers are removed.
• U.S. President Donald Trump has said there will be some tariff for getting access to the U.S. market so the Canadian government and businesses should make the case why it is beneficial for the U.S. to do business with Canada at the lowest tariff rate.
• Canada and the U.S. can also work more closely on energy. The U.S. already imports a lot of oil and natural gas from Canada, the U.S. processes much of this energy, and it would want to expand the partnership.
• Canada should also build a stockpile of critical minerals in Canada or the U.S. to use during emergencies. Canada has many critical minerals and it should develop a full supply chain to become an ideal partner for the U.S.

The office of the Canadian Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who is responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, said that
Canada remains committed to establishing a new economic and security relationship with the United States that will deliver for workers and businesses on both sides of the border.

“The Minister looks forward to further engagement with his American and Mexican counterparts over the coming months as we undertake the trilateral and bilateral review of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement.”

— Additional reporting by Promit Mukherjee in Ottawa

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Statistics Canada said the country posted a deficit of C$3.65 billion in January, almost three times more than the deficit of C$1.3 billion observed in December.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a C$900 million deficit for the month.

Canada’s international merchandise trade is heavily skewed to the U.S., its biggest trading partner. Both exports to and imports from the U.S. dropped in January, with the U.S. accounting for 68 per cent of Canada’s total exports.

Higher energy exports offset some decline

Total exports fell by 4.7 per cent in January, the largest drop since April last year. Exports declined in six out of 11 categories, StatsCan said.

In volume terms, exports declined 5.8 per cent, it said.

Exports of motor vehicles and parts slid to their lowest since September 2021, posting a massive 21.2 per cent drop. This was mainly due to lower motor vehicle production in Canada following prolonged seasonal production stoppages, the statistics agency said.

Exports of metal and non-metallic mineral products fell by eight per cent in January, primarily led by lower exports of unwrought gold to the United Kingdom.

Higher energy exports, which rose by 4.1 per cent, helped offset some of the decline. This is Canada’s biggest export category by value, and contributes close to a quarter of its total exports.

War could benefit Canadian crude oil

Economists have said Canada’s international trade could benefit in the coming months from higher crude oil prices owing to the war in the Middle East.

Exports to the U.S. fell 3.8 per cent and imports dropped by 3.4 per cent, shrinking Canada’s trade surplus with its neighbor to C$5.4 billion in January, below the C$5.7 billion seen in the prior month.

Exports to countries other than the U.S. dropped 6.5 per cent after reaching a record high in December, mainly due to the drop in unwrought gold exports to the U.K.

Imports from countries other than the U.S. increased 2.1 per cent in January, due in part to higher imports of industrial machinery from China, StatsCan said.

Canada’s total imports dropped by 1.1 per cent in January, with decreases in seven out of 11 product categories.

The Canadian dollar firmed broadly after the trade data and was trading up 0.07 per cent to 1.3600 to the U.S. dollar, or 73.53 U.S. cents. Yields on the two-year government bonds were down 0.5 basis points at 2.580 per cent.

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“They have a few ideas on how they might want to have a deal with us. We’re obviously open to that,” Greer said in an interview on Fox Business Network.

WHY IT MATTERS: Canada and U.S. agricultural supply chains are heavily integrated and could face disruption, depending on the outcome of the CUSMA review.

Greer said he spoke with his trade counterpart earlier on Wednesday and that they would meet in Washington “in a couple weeks.”

“We’re open to talk, and we’ll see what they have to say,” Greer told FBN’s “Mornings with Maria” program.

Representatives for Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

U.S.-Canada tensions have grown in recent months over trade and other issues as Trump has targeted Washington’s northern neighbor.

The Trump administration is reviewing the Canada-United States-Mexico trade pact enacted during Trump’s first term in the White House term and faces a July 1 deadline to notify Congress whether it plans to change the agreement.

‘Reshoring’ not moving fast enough: Greer

Greer said U.S. officials are focused on moving production of cars and other goods back to the U.S. But the reshoring of critical supply chains is not happening fast enough under the current pact, he said in a separate interview with CBC News, expressing concern that China will funnel goods through Canada to avoid certain tariffs as Beijing and Ottawa seek to develop closer ties.

“We don’t want a situation where Canada’s being used as a back door for Chinese goods,” he told CBC reporter Katie Simpson late on Tuesday in a video posted on X.

“If Canada wants to agree that we can have some level of higher tariff on them while they open their markets to us on things like dairy and other things, then that’s a helpful conversation,” Greer added.

Trump has said Washington could leave CUSMA and strike separate deals with Canada and Mexico as his administration pursues separate talks with each bordering country.

Greer told Bloomberg Television on Wednesday that he would continue separate negotiations with representatives of Canada and Mexico over the coming year “because our relationships with those countries are so different.”

One solution could be to “tack on” separate protocols for each nation onto CUSMA “to fix some of the gaps,” he said.

— Additional reporting by Promit Mukherjee

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“We will finalize the terms of reference and are hoping to launch talks for a free trade agreement later this week,” Piyush Goyal told reporters.

— Reporting by Shivangi Acharya

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