Despite the unprecedented scope of the United States tariffs, major economies weathered the trade shock in 2025, but with significant distributional shifts under the surface, said RBC.
U.S. imports reoriented rapidly away from higher-tariffed regions like China, but still rose overall in 2025 as American consumers, businesses, and governments continued to spend, noted the bank. Almost 90% of global trade that doesn't involve the U.S. continued to grow.
Distributional impact has been concentrated, stated RBC. Headline gross domestic product in Canada held up better than feared, while specific sectors -- steel exports were down 30%, motor vehicles, aluminum -- and regions, such as Ontario and Quebec with an over 6% effective tariff rates, have been hard hit.
Canada's heavily integrated cross-border supply chains are a challenge that most offshore U.S. trade partners don't face, pointed out the bank. Canada's share of the U.S. import market declined in 2025 despite almost 90% of exports remaining tariff-free.
The world can absorb U.S. trade shocks, while Canada cannot as easily, according to RBC. The year marked global resilience to trade policy uncertainty, and the U.S. share of Canada's exports declined. But, it is still high at 71.6%, leaving Canada fundamentally more exposed than most other trade partners.