With the topic export market diversification suddenly hot in the wake of the U.S. tariffs, today’s Twenty-Four looks at Alberta’s sales to the “supranational” political and economic bloc known as the European Union (E.U.).*

With 27 member states, a population of about 450 million (over 100 million more than the U.S.), annual GDP approaching US$20 trillion, and a free trade agreement** with Canada, you might be surprised to learn that Alberta’s total merchandise exports to the E.U. were only $1.8 billion last year out of a total of $182.6 billion. Major exports include nickel, petroleum products, dog and cat food, wheat, and aircraft parts.

More encouragingly, the value of Alberta’s exports E.U. has increased by over half a billion dollars compared to 10 years ago (+40%). With that said, the region’s share of Alberta’s annual exports hasn’t budged; it was 1% in both 2014 and 2024. The E.U. is Alberta’s fourth largest customer after the U.S. (which dominates as the destination of 88.5% of Alberta’s total merchandise exports last year), China (3.7%) and Japan (1.5%). Even if you bracket out Alberta’s exports to the U.S., the E.U. accounted for only 8.5% of Alberta’s exports to non-U.S. destinations last year compared to 31.8% for China and 12.6% for Japan.

The numbers suggest that the E.U. is a potential growth area for Alberta exporters. That is, however, easy to say from an armchair observer. In reality, and despite the existence of the CETA, factors such as regulatory challenges, local preferences and demand, distance to market, and competition from other suppliers mean expanding Alberta’s exports to the E.U. is easier said than done. The E.U. is, for example, a multilingual market with 24 official languages.

Current challenges aside, there are good reasons why the U.S. is Alberta’s main market for so many of its products: the two places are literally connected and they both benefit from deep and longstanding economic relationships. With that said, increasing sales to Europe is an opportunity worth pursuing.

Future editions of the Twenty-Four will dig into Alberta’s trade with other regions.

*We’ve recently profiled Alberta’s exports to the U.S., to countries other than the U.S., energy exports to Asia, and crude oil exports to China.

**The Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) entered into force provisionally in 2017, entered into force provisionally in 2017, meaning that most of the agreement now applies even though only 17 of 27 E.U. members have completed the domestic ratification process. According to the European Commission, the agreement eliminates duties on 99% of all tariff lines, of which 98% were scrapped when it provisionally entered into force.

Answer to the previous trivia question: Manitoba joined the New West Partnership Trade Agreement in 2016 the  final legislative provisions and regulations necessary to officially adopt the Agreement were not in place until 2020.

Today’s trivia question: Which U.S. President was the first to sign an executive order?