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U.S. Government Shutdown Means Canadian Trade Data Delayed Indefinitely

The U.S. government been has been in shutdown mode since Dec. 22 over Trump's demand for border wall money.
An employee makes their way to work at Statistics Canada, in Ottawa on July 21, 2010.
The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick
An employee makes their way to work at Statistics Canada, in Ottawa on July 21, 2010.

U.S. President Donald Trump's fight with Congress over a border wall is forcing Statistics Canada to stop reporting Canadian foreign trade figures.

In an advisory published Thursday, the statistical agency said it's indefinitely delaying its next report on international merchandise trade, scheduled for Feb. 5.

Since 1990, Canada and the U.S. have been sharing border data to determine trade numbers between the two countries. The U.S. Census Bureau collects data from U.S. border authorities and sends it to Canada. Canadian authorities do the same for the U.S.

Watch: U.S. government shutdown rolls into 26th day. Story continues below.

But with the U.S. federal government undergoing a shutdown that is now the longest in its history, data from the U.S. will not be arriving in Canada.

As 75 per cent of Canada's foreign trade is with the U.S., data without the U.S. component is "of limited use," StatCan said.

The U.S. government shutdown began on Dec. 22, and is now the longest in U.S. history. Shutdowns happen in the U.S. when legislators can't agree on authorization for government spending, and in this case the sticking point is Trump's demand for US$5.7 billion in funding to build a wall on the U.S.'s southern border.

Building a wall was a key campaign promise from Trump, who capitalized on xenophobic sentiments among some U.S. voters. Of Mexicans coming to the U.S, he famously said in 2015: "They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."

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