The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that Canada's trade surplus hit a four-year high in May as the conflict in the Middle East buoyed oil and other global commodity prices and aluminum exporters found new markets. The Globe's Mark Rendell writes that merchandise exports rose 0.9 per cent, the fourth consecutive monthly increase, to a record $77.1-billion, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday. Imports declined 0.2 per cent. That pushed Canada's trade surplus with the rest of the world to $4.2-billion, from an upwardly revised $3.4-billion in April. That's the largest trade surplus since May, 2022, and the second-largest surplus since the summer of 2008, just before the global financial crisis. Meanwhile, Canada's trade surplus with the United States widened to $11.6-billion from $10.3-billion in April, the largest surplus since January, 2025, when exports surged as Canadian companies rushed goods across the border ahead of President Donald Trump's tariffs. "This is probably the high watermark for now," BMO senior economist Robert Kavcic said in a note. "Still, net exports look to add firmly to growth in Q2, another data point that suggests the Canadian economy has snapped out of its two-quarter funk."