ottawacanada in december recorded its first trade deficit after six consecutive surpluses as exports declined while imports rose across a breadth of sectors in particular for smartphones statistics canada said tuesday the country in december posted a goodstrade deficit of 137 million canadian dollars the equivalent of us108 billion the consensus expectation was for a c245 billion surplus according to economists at td securities the november data were also revised and now indicate that trade surplus for that month was c247 billion smaller than the original c313 estimate exports fell 09 in december while imports increased 37 to a record level of c5775 billion this marked the third straight month that imports reached record territory on a volumeor priceadjustedbasis exports fell 02 in december and imports increased 31 imports of electronic and electrical equipment and parts posted the largest increase in december rising 162 the data agency attributed the gain to a big jump in smartphone shipments from abroad supplychain disruptions appeared to slow the growth of these products throughout the year and decembers gain partially offset this trend statistics canada said exports in december fell due to a 59 drop in the sale of energy products abroad excluding energy exports rose 07