Does anyone ever do the math? I know the U.S. has a well-documented math education issue, however, this trade imbalance that everyone keeps talking about is crazy talk. If you include all exports to Canada from the United States, Canada imports $277 billion, divided by the Canadian population of 40 million, we import approximately $6,925 per person on U.S. goods and services.
The U.S., with 347 million people, imports from Canada including gas and oil $429 billion, which is $1,236 per U.S. consumer . If you exclude the $130 billion in gas and oil it’s $862 per person. We are 10% the size of the United States. We have almost balanced trade with them as we purchase $277 billion, and they purchase $299 billion if excluding oil and gas, and somehow we’re transgressors.
So to recap Canada imports more than five times the value of goods than the Americans purchased from Canada, based on a per capita basis.
Doug Coulson
Saanich
