The Effect of CUSFTA and NAFTA on Canada’s Export Composition

Manouchehr Barjesteh Maleki (), Hamed Samarghandi () and Joel Bruneau ()
Additional contact information
Manouchehr Barjesteh Maleki: University of Saskatchewan
Hamed Samarghandi: University of Saskatchewan
Joel Bruneau: University of Saskatchewan

Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, 2025, vol. 25, issue 1, No 14, 35 pages

Abstract: Abstract This research analyzes the effect of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and its predecessor, the Canada-USA Free Trade Agreement (CUSFTA), on the evolution of the export composition of Canada. This research applies a multivariate time series model to measure Canada’s export composition using 11 indices including diversification, extensive margin, intensive margin, product sophistication, and economic complexity. These measures are crucial in assessing the trade risk and economic development potential of a country. This study extends the literature by computing and assessing a comprehensive set of measures of export performance (11 measures) and using a long time series spanning five decades (1970–2019). The results indicate that, for Canada, higher economic integration through a free trade agreement with the USA is associated with a positive change in export diversity estimated by the Herfindahl-Hirschman and intensive margin index.

Keywords: CUSFTA and NAFTA; Product diversification; Herfindahl-Hirschman index; Intensive margin; Extensive margin; Product sophistication; Economic complexity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F13 F14 F15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10842-025-00448-7 Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:jincot:v:25:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s10842-025-00448-7

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... on/journal/10842/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s10842-025-00448-7

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade is currently edited by Karl Aiginger, Marcel Canoy and Michael Peneder

More articles in Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().