Best U.S. equity ETFs for Canadian investors 2025

There are even indications Canadian investors are rejecting U.S. equity exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war and threats of annexation. 

Nonetheless, U.S. equities are impossible to ignore—they represent 60% of global stock market capitalization. So, if you mean to have a globally diversified ETF portfolio, you should have an allocation to U.S. equity funds.

Best U.S. Equity ETFs 2025

Most of the time, as investors in Canada, we lean toward Canadian-listed funds in our Best ETFs picks just for their lower transaction costs and Canadian dollar denomination. But in this case, our panel concluded an American-listed fund, Vanguard’s Total Stock Market ETF (VTI), could be the best option available. It has a barely-there management expense ratio (MER) of 0.03%, covers the market beyond the S&P 500, and, being denominated in U.S. dollars, will capture all the currency and market’s movements. The Canadian-listed version of the same fund, VUN, came a close second amongst the panelists.

iShares’ Core S&P Total Market Index ETF (XUU) and Vanguard’s S&P 500 Index ETF (VFV) tied for third place in the voting. While our Best ETF judges favoured unhedged funds for the sake of additional currency diversification, all these funds are available in Canadian dollar-hedged versions.

Read more on investing:

• The best online brokers in Canada
• A guide to the best robo-advisors in Canada
• The best TFSAs in Canada
• The best RRSP investments

About Michael McCullough

Michael is a financial writer and editor in Duncan, B.C. He’s a former managing editor of Canadian Business and editorial director of Canada Wide Media. He also writes for The Globe and Mail and BCBusiness.

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