Explanatory Notes — Trading Partner

International trade is recorded between two geographical entities: the Trader which is the country that records imported goods coming in or exported goods leaving through customs and the trading partner which can be a country, a collection of countries or a pre-defined trading block.

The following selections are available:

All Countries

This shows the total trade with all the countries (and territories) in the world.

• All Countries (Total) displays only a one line total in the report
• All Countries (Detailed) displays a detailed list for all the countries with a grand total at the bottom of the report.

top 10 Countries

This shows the trade with the Top 10 trading partners ranked according to the latest year, month or year-to-date period. Reports will display a "sub-total" for these 10 countries, and display (under "Others") the total trade with the countries not in the Top 10. The "total" for all countries appears below.

Individual Countries

The name of individual countries (e.g. Afghanistan, China, Japan etc.) will appear in the list and can be selected.

• In a few cases, some countries are combined by Statistics Canada for reporting purposes. For example, trade with the Vatican City State is included with that for Italy.
• Multiple countries can be selected as desired by highlighting them as selections. A "sub-total" for the selections made will be displayed as well as a sub-total for "others" not selected and a "total" for all countries.
• When the trader is Canada and the trading partner is the United States, individual or groups of U.S. States may be selected.

For more details, see the section on the country classification.

Predefined Country Groupings

A number of predefined country groupings appear in the list of trading partners. These can be continent-based (e.g. South America) or based on recognized economic associations (e.g. OPEC countries).

• Predefined country groups are listed alphabetically with individual countries but are displayed in upper case to distinguish the two.
• There are two instances for each group, depending on whether you wish to display only the Total for the group or a detailed list for all the countries it contains.
• Sub-total and others will be displayed at the bottom of reports along with a "total" for all countries.

For more details, see the section on Predefined Country Groups.

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Note on Distribution by Province

If the "Distribution by Province" option is specified in the Trader selection area, reports will always show the values for the Canadian provinces and territories.

The data will pertain to the specified "Trading Partner" but no individual country detail will appear in the report, which instead will show the provincial breakdown.

As a result, there will be no differences in reports for total and detailed listings; e.g. the report would be identical whether "All Countries (Total)" or "All Countries (Detailed)" is selected.

If a detailed country breakdown is desired, this can be done by selecting:

• one Canadian province or territory at a time in the "Trader" selection area;
  And
• highlighting country groups, multiple countries, "Top 10 Countries" or "All Countries (Detailed)" options in the "Trading Partner" selection area.