Canada pursues trade beyond U.S. after Democratic wins

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(The Center Square) – Canada will keep looking for trade partners outside the United States despite Democrats winning both chambers of Congress in this week's midterm election, Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said.

“That’s not going to change the work that we have to do in the next two weeks,” LeBlanc told reporters⁠ on Wednesday. 

Trade talks with Ottawa and the Trump administration will continue, according to LeBlanc.

Like the United States, Canada’s stock market rallied then corrected this week.

Toronto’s benchmark stock index rose 809 points Wednesday, before losing 736 points Thursday⁠.

In October 2025, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney set a goal to double Canada’s non-American exports within a decade. He said American tariffs threatened jobs and discouraged investment.

Back in March, Transport Canada opened applications for a C$5 billion fund to help exporters reach new markets. The program supports ports and rail lines, among other transportation projects.

That’s not the only taxpayer money Canada is spending to increase exports.

The C$750 million CANXPORT cargo hub in British Columbia opened in August⁠. Workers at the site move bulk goods from rail cars into containers for overseas shipment.

The Canada Infrastructure Bank lent the project C$150 million. Transport Canada gave the project nearly C$50 million through an older trade fund, and the British Columbian government provided C$25 million.

Railroad CN participated in that project. Canadian Pacific Kansas City has promoted its own Canada-Mexico routes.

Canadian Pacific merged with Kansas City Southern in 2023 to form CPKC. It’s a single railroad linking Canada, the United States and Mexico.

“We’ve become a land bridge across America,” CPKC CEO Keith Creel told The Globe and Mail last year.

The railroad, which goes through the United States, connects Canadian and Mexican buyers.

CPKC’s 2025-26 grain report⁠ said that despite trade uncertainty with the United States, Canada’s grain shipments to Mexico were growing.

“We are working with our customers and governments to explore opportunities to grow trade between the two countries,” Creel wrote.

In September 2025, CPK Chosted Carney⁠ at a Mexican grain terminal. A CPKC train carried wheat from Manitoba about 3,200 miles to the site.

CPKC is one of the rail companies that oppose the proposed Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger.CPKC joined a coalition opposing the deal in the spring. 

In May, Creel worried that the merger would give one company control over roughly half of American freight rail traffic.

Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern say the deal would mean fewer transfers between carriers and save shippers about $3.5 billion annually.

The Surface Transportation Board is reviewing that deal⁠. Opening comments are due Nov. 18.