Higher shipments of passenger cars and lights trucks south of the border helped drive up Canadian exports to the United States by 2.5 per cent in June to a record $37.1 billion, Statistics Canada reported Friday.
The federal agency said imports from the United States edged up 0.3 per cent in June to $32.9 billion.
As a result, Canada’s trade surplus with the United States widened from $3.3 billion in May to $4.1 billion.
The record mark for exports to the United States comes at a time of friction in global trade. Canada, the United States and Mexico are engaged in protracted negotiations on a new North American Free Trade Agreement.
At the same time, trade spats have seen the United States and Canada impose tariffs on some products that cross the border.
Additionally, the Trump administration has threatened to impose tariffs on automobiles shipped to the U.S. market.
In figures also released Friday, the U.S. Commerce Department said the country had a $2-billion US trade deficit with Canada, up 39.7 per cent from May.
Smallest gap since start of 2017
Statistics Canada said the country’s overall merchandise trade deficit with the world narrowed from $2.7 billion in May to $626 million in June, the smallest deficit since January 2017.
Canada’s total exports increased 4.1 per cent to $50.7 billion in June, the first time they have topped the $50-billion mark. The rise was mainly due to higher exports of energy products and aircraft.
Meanwhile, overall imports edged down 0.2 per cent to $51.3 billion in June.