November 2025
Spotlight on data and research
International transactions in securities during recent Canada-U.S. trade developments
This article examines how the net acquisitions of foreign securities by Canadian investors and the net acquisitions of Canadian securities by foreign investors have evolved as trade tensions with the U.S. escalated in 2025.
As the trade uncertainty intensified in early 2025, net acquisitions rose steadily from February to June, with Canadian investors adding $61.0 billion in U.S. securities during the first half of 2025. At the same time, foreign investors were reducing their exposure to Canadian securities, resulting in a net decrease of $22.4 billion during the first half of the year. Together these generated a net outflow of funds from the Canadian economy totaling $84.7 billion during the first half of 2025. By comparison, these cross-border transactions generated a net inflow of $80.6 billion in 2024.
Geographic proximity between adult children and their parents in Canada
This article tracks cohorts of Canadians who lived with parents during their teens in the 1980s, studying the distance from their parents using tax data from 1997 to 2019.
Despite Canada’s size, almost three-quarters of these child-parent combinations lived within 100 kilometres of each other and just over half lived within 20 kilometres by the time they were in their 50s from 2016 to 2019. A larger proportion of adult children in Prince Edward Island and Quebec (56 to 61%) were estimated to live within 20 km of their mothers and fathers, while Saskatchewan had the lowest proportion estimated to live nearby their mothers (45%) and fathers (43%).
Source country matters: citizenship trends among recent immigrants in Australia and Canada
Whether immigrants become citizens of their destination country is often affected by the characteristics of their source country. Immigrants from nations with constrained political rights and lower economic development may be more likely to seek citizenship compared with those from other nations. This article examines changes in citizenship rates from 2011 to 2021 in both Canada and Australia, focusing on differences by source country.
Australian and Canadian census data reveal that among immigrants admitted 6 to 10 years before each census, the citizenship rate fell from 68% to 50% in Australia and from 77% to 56% in Canada. The steepest declines in Australia occurred among immigrants from China (-38 percentage points), Colombia (-31 percentage points), Vietnam (-22 percentage points), and India (-21 percentage points). In Canada, the largest drops were among immigrants from China (-35 percentage points), the Philippines (-30 percentage points), South Korea (-29 percentage points), and India (-25 percentage points).
In both countries, declines were most pronounced among immigrants from countries that experienced significant improvements in living standards or increases in passport strength.
Research articles
Lessons from Canadian exporters during the US 2018-2019 steel and aluminum tariffs
It will take some time to determine the full impact of recent US tariffs on the Canadian economy. Nevertheless, insight can be gained by examining the effects of tariffs in the recent past. This study examines how Canadian steel and aluminum producers adjusted to 25% tariffs on steel and 10% tariffs on aluminum imposed by the US from June 2018 to May 2019.
Over the 11 months tariffs were imposed, the value and volume of tariffed steel and aluminum exports to the Unites States fell by about half relative to steel and aluminum products that were not tariffed. However, prices of Canadian aluminum and steel exports, on average, did not fall to compensate for higher tariffs. US importers were estimated to pay on average the full cost of tariffs through higher prices.
Innovation in diversified cities: Evidence from Canada’s urban areas
This study examines how cultural and industrial diversity influenced innovation in 152 Canadian urban areas between 2001 and 2021. It found that cultural and industrial diversity was significantly associated with urban innovation.
When the cultural diversity of a region increases significantly, innovation tends to increase significantly, from about 13% to 82%. Industrial diversity also stimulates innovation, but to a lesser extent, from about 7% to 37%. When these two types of diversity are combined, they create an additional positive effect of about 2% to 12%. It's important to note that these benefits are amplified in regions with more recent immigrants, showing how newcomers play a key role in spreading and combining knowledge.
Related publications
Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series
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