Exports of equipment made in the United States to Canada dipped in 2025, but the nation remains the top importer of American machinery by far.
Last year, Canada imported US$5.1 billion in construction machinery from the United States, according to the Association of Equipment Manufacturers’ (AEM) triennial report, The Economic Impact of the U.S. Equipment Manufacturing Industry.
The US$5.1 billion in exports to Canada represents a 13.2 per cent decrease compared to 2024. Canada, however, represents 45 per cent of total American-made equipment exports.
Australia placed a distant second in terms of purchasing American equipment, acquiring US$1.447 billion in machinery last year, equalling 13 per cent of United States’ exports.
Overall, exports of American-made machinery fell 9.7 per cent in 2025.
“As we’ve seen, countries targeted by tariffs have retaliated, increasing their tariffs on U.S.-produced goods, and thus impacting U.S. exports as well,” said Brian Bieller, Chair of AEM’s Government and Public Affairs Committee and President of Bomag Americas.
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Canadian exports to the United States also decreased 2.2 per cent to US$1.731 billion, representing 18 per cent of machinery imported by the United States.
Equipment made in Japan was the most popular import for American buyers, totalling US$4.6 billion and 22 per cent of all machinery imports.
Overall, the United States imported US$20.8 billion of equipment in 2025, a 17.7 per cent decrease compared to the previous year.
“Interestingly, the Top 10 importing countries remain the same as 2022. For the top export destinations, Germany is new in 2025, and we lost Russia due to sanctions following the Russian-Ukraine war,” Bieller said.
Economic contribution
In 2025, the United States off-highway equipment manufacturing industry generated US$902 billion in total sales activity and supported 2.2 million jobs nationwide.
The industry contributed roughly US$415 billion in total value added to the American GDP, about 1.4 per cent of nominal GDP, and generated US$194 billion in total labour income.
“The GDP contribution by the industry was similar to and larger than those of Chile, Egypt and Portugal,” said AEM President and CEO Megan Tanel.
Six-figure jobs
For the first time, average annual pay per industry employee reached six figures, equalling about US$105,000, which is about 50 per cent higher than the national average.
“This reflects the highly skilled nature of our workforce,” Tanel said.
Equipment manufacturing directly employed 421,000 people and supported 2.2 million jobs in the United States, generating US$194 billion in labour income and contributing US$415 billion to GDP.
Overall, the industry represents more than one in 100 American jobs and one in 10 manufacturing jobs. Industry-supported activity also generated US$55 billion in combined federal and state/local tax revenue.
Growth across the equipment manufacturing industry was relatively flat over the last three years, with a 0.4 per cent decline in overall employment and a 0.4 per cent decline in total sales activity.
“America’s equipment manufacturers have weathered every storm thrown at them — but resilience alone is not a growth strategy,” said Kip Eideberg, AEM’s Senior Vice-President of Government and Industry Relations.
“To make manufacturing great again, we need a comprehensive strategy that prioritizes smart and sensible trade policies, drives the funding needed for nation-building infrastructure, modernizes regulations and delivers real permitting reform. When equipment manufacturers succeed, America succeeds.”
Commissioned by AEM and prepared by S&P Global Market Intelligence, The Economic Impact of the U.S. Equipment Manufacturing Industry report quantifies the industry’s direct, indirect and induced contributions to the United States economy across jobs supported, output (sales activity), value added (GDP contribution), labour income and tax revenues
