Canada remains a net importer with many trading partners — including the United States — where we sent 95% of our automotive products and procured 57% from them, according to DesRosiers Automotive Consultants.
Based on DAC’s latest update, Canada continued to be a net importer of products across the automotive sphere in 2024. The country’s broad-range exports accounted for $82.21 billion against imports at $142.74 billion. DAC’s data also reveals that around 41% of light vehicles sold in Canada were sourced from the U.S.
“Despite the unhinged rhetoric and really bad math coming out of Washington, the days of Canada being a net exporter in automotive are long gone,” said Andrew King, Managing Partner at DAC, in a statement. “However the structural risks of having 95% of our exports heading to one country have become clearly evident in the events of recent weeks.”
When it comes to light vehicles, Canada’s trade balance with the U.S. was $8.33 billion in 2024, with $43.82 billion exported against $35.49 billion imported. However, DAC said the U.S. ran “a significant trade surplus with Canada” when it came to medium- and heavy-duty trucks, engines, automotive parts, and more. That has resulted in “a negative overall automotive trade balance for Canada in excess of $3 billion with its unfriendly southern neighbour in 2024.”
Time will tell where this tariff war is headed and if the “really bad math coming out of Washington” is simply a pretext for something more ominous.
