Commercial trucks cross into the United States through the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge border checkpoint at Niagara Falls, Canada, amid deepening trade tensions between the two countries. [Getty Images]
Commercial trucks cross into the United States through the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge border checkpoint at Niagara Falls, Canada, amid deepening trade tensions between the two countries. [Getty Images]

The United States launched a tariff war against Canada with a 50 percent levy, but the move has so far widened Canada's trade surplus — and sharply boosted its exports to the US.

Statistics Canada said Tuesday (local time) that Canada's trade surplus reached 4.2 billion Canadian dollars in August, a 433 percent surge from 787 million Canadian dollars the previous month. The figure more than doubled the 1.55 billion Canadian dollar consensus forecast compiled by Reuters.

Total Canadian exports in August rose 2.5 percent from the previous month to 77.91 billion Canadian dollars, the second-highest level on record. Imports fell 2.0 percent, reversing seven months of gains.

Canada has now posted a trade surplus for six consecutive months, with the August figure marking the largest since May 2022.

Canada appears to have benefited, paradoxically, from the threat of US tariffs. The Donald Trump administration imposed an additional 50 percent tariff on some Canadian goods starting Aug. 22, prompting US importers to front-load purchases of Canadian products before the measures took effect — driving the outsized surplus.

Canada's trade surplus with the United States, its largest trading partner, hit 11.22 billion Canadian dollars in August, the highest since January 2025. Strong US-bound shipments more than offset a decline in exports to other countries.

Canadian exports to the US jumped 8.1 percent in August, while exports to other countries fell 8.5 percent. The US share of total Canadian exports climbed to 69.8 percent, the highest since September 2025.

The US, meanwhile, recorded a goods and services trade deficit of $105.6 billion in August, up 13.7 percent from the previous month. That is the largest deficit since March 2025 — just before Trump announced sweeping reciprocal tariffs on countries worldwide in what he called "Liberation Day." The US trade deficit with Canada alone widened sharply, from $4.1 billion the previous month to $7.1 billion, as American importers rushed to maximize stockpiles of Canadian goods ahead of the tariffs.


kate01@heraldcorp.com