The US imported more oil from Canada this year, but at much lower prices. Photo: Bloomberg
China is poised to become the biggest US trading partner this year, eclipsing Canada for the first time, Bloomberg reported.
The slump in oil prices has reduced the value of energy exports from America’s neighbor to the north.
US trade in goods with China reached US$441.6 billion for the year’s first nine months, exceeding the balance with Canada, US$438.1 billion, for the first time in US Commerce Department data going back to 1985.
Figures published Wednesday also showed that the US trade shortfall with China is now at an all-time high, fueled by record imports.
Crude oil is among Canada’s biggest exports, and its price has collapsed to about half of its 2014 peak.
That’s helped send the value of its trade with the US so far this year down 11.6 percent from the same time last year even as the world’s biggest economy buys more barrels.
Meanwhile, China is increasingly dependent on US consumers buying its goods.
Total trade with China for the first nine months this year rose 3.7 percent from the same period last year.
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