4 Great Markets to Explore for Canadian SMEs

If your Candian SME is struggling to stay in business, take a look at these four great markets you should be exploring:

1. Canada

The first market all Canadian SMEs should be exploring right now is the domestic market. With the COVID-19 pandemic disrupting international supply chains and necessitating new regulations, now is an ideal time to re-evaluate the domestic landscape. Are you overlooking some provinces? Many provinces have small populations but high incomes. Have you been keeping up with the shift in customer behavior and meeting new demands? Are you taking advantage of all the COVID-19 relief packages that are being offered to Canadian businesses?

2. The European Union (EU)

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) was signed between Canada and the EU in October 2016 and has been applied provisionally since September 2017. It has not been approved by every EU nation yet, which may worry some Canadian SMEs. However, it has still been ratified by 15 of the 27 EU nations, and approval from Dutch lawmakers last year was seen as a turning point. With the pandemic bringing both health and economic crises, EU governments have had their hands full, and with CETA already operating provisionally, there’s not much urgency to revisit it. Thus, you should be exploring EU markets as well since Canada–EU relations are unlikely to deteriorate anytime soon. 

3. Mexico

With the USMCA being signed in July of last year, the trade status of the former NAFTA nations is more stable than it has been in years. Some Canadian SMEs are already doing business in Mexico and with Mexican businesses, but more companies should look into Mexico to establish or ramp up their presence in the Mexican markets. While Mexico has been hit hard by the pandemic, many believe the setbacks are anomalies, and things will return to normal once the pandemic subsides. In fact, over the past ten years, the Mexican economy has experienced an average growth rate of 2.5%. With few trade restrictions, a growing economy, and the tenth-largest population in the world, the Mexican market is very enticing.

4. Vietnam

Vietnam is also another great option. For starters, they’ve handled the pandemic well, keeping its citizens safe and successfully fulfilling their roles in the supply chain. Canada and Vietnam are also part of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and many Canadians are already doing business with Vietnam. Moreover, Vietnamese imports saw the largest increase of any nation from March 2019 to March 2020. Vietnam is not a rich country, but these factors, along with its ability to lure jobs away from China mean that the future of Canadian–Vietnamese business relations looks bright.

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