Mapping your
next trade route
Canada’s big four free trade
agreements on the world stage
With business increasingly going global, success isn’t just about who you know—it’s about where you go. Canada’s trade agreements sit high on this decision tree when calculating costs and studying supply chains. To help you plan your next step, we pinpointed Canada’s four most critical trade agreements on a world map.
Click each agreement to see its countries and key facts.
Canada-UK TCA
CETA
CUSMA
CPTPP
Key to countries in the trade agreements
Need help mapping trade agreements to your business strategy?
Whether you’re looking to stay on the right side of importing rules or to pivot your exporting strategy, we’re here to help.
Contact us now.
Charmaine Goddeeris
cgoddeeris@bdo.ca
905-946-1066
Sources
Last updated: September 20, 2021
Mapping your
next trade route
Canada’s big four free trade
agreements on the world stage
With business increasingly going global, success isn’t just about who you know—it’s about where you go. Canada’s trade agreements sit high on this decision tree when calculating costs and studying supply chains. To help you plan your next step, we pinpointed Canada’s four most critical trade agreements on a world map.
Click each agreement to see its countries and key facts.
Canada-UK Trade Continuity Agreement
Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement
Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement
Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership
Canada-UK Trade Continuity Agreement (Canada-UK TCA)
When the United Kingdom exited the EU in 2020, the business community wanted to see as few changes as possible. With the Canada-UK TCA, the two signing countries achieved that continuity on trade, generally recreating CETA conditions. Next up for the two countries: negotiations on a long-term, bespoke trade agreement.
67 million people live in the UK
$20 billion of exports passed from Canada to the UK in 2020. That represents almost 4% of Canada’s total world exports
Industries most affected
Agriculture
Manufacturing
Countries in force
- Canada
- UK
Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)
CETA did for Europe what NAFTA did—and CUSMA continued—for North America. In attaching Canada to a massive free trade area, it gave Canadian exporters greater access to EU markets and lowered tariffs on imports into Canada.
$21.6 billion is the combined GDP for EU countries
$28 billion of exports went from Canada to CETA countries in 2020. That represents almost 5.5% of Canada’s total world exports
Industries most affected
Agriculture
Manufacturing
Countries in force
Canada • Austria • Belgium • Bulgaria • Croatia • Cyprus • Czech Republic • Denmark • Estonia • Finland • France • Germany • Greece • Hungary • Ireland • Italy • Latvia • Lithuania • Luxembourg • Malta • Netherlands • Poland • Portugal • Romania • Slovakia • Slovenia • Spain • Sweden
In force... but
CETA has not taken full effect, pending approval by all relevant government bodies in the EU.
Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA)
CUSMA replaced the previous North American Free Trade Agreement with much controversy, but the so-called new NAFTA is more similar to the old one than people realize. Still, watch out for the differences that do exist—on rules of origin for auto manufacturing, for example, and dairy farming.
450+ million people comprise the market in the U.S. and Mexico
$390 billion of exports passed from Canada to Mexico and the U.S. in 2020. That represents 75% of Canada’s total world exports
Industries most affected
Agriculture
Manufacturing
Retail & consumer business
Countries in force
- Canada
- U.S.
- Mexico
Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)
By joining the CPTPP, Canada didn’t just gain access to another large trading bloc, this one straddling Asia and Latin America. It also continued to diversify its trade relationships and, in some cases, gained trading partners where the two countries could not reach bilateral agreements. Businesses have noticed the difference. Some tariffs went from substantial to zero—overnight.
13.5% of global GDP is covered by the treaty
$34 billion of exports passed from Canada to CPTPP countries in 2020. That represents 6.5% of Canada’s total world exports
Industries most affected
Agriculture
Manufacturing
Countries in force
Canada
Australia
Japan
Mexico
New Zealand
Peru
Singapore
Vietnam
Not yet in force
Brunei, Chile, Malaysia
Need help mapping trade agreements to your business strategy?
Whether you’re looking to stay on the right side of importing rules or to pivot your exporting strategy, we’re here to help.
Contact us now.
Charmaine Goddeeris
cgoddeeris@bdo.ca
905-946-1066
Last updated: September 20, 2021
Sources:
CUSMA trade figures
- Population – “Countries in the world by population,” accessed September 2021, Worldometer
- Exports – “Canada exports by country,” accessed September 2021, Trading Economics
CETA
- GDP - “World Economic Outlook Database,” accessed September 2021, International Monetary Fund
- Exports – “Canada exports by country,” accessed September 2021, Trading Economics
CPTPP
- GDP – “CPTPP explained,” December 2020, Global Affairs Canada
- Exports – “Canada exports by country,” accessed September 2021, Trading Economics
Canada-UK TCA
- Population – “Population estimates for the UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland: mid-2020,” accessed September 2020, Office for National Statistics
- Exports – “Canada exports by country,” accessed September 2021, Trading Economics