You can, if you choose, include an emerging market (EM) fund in your portfolio to obtain exposure to countries like China, India, and Brazil. But remember that multinational corporations from Europe, Japan, and North America have operations in the developing world, too. Growth in these regions will not pass you by simply because you didn’t specifically invest in companies based there.
Our 2026 picks for best international equity ETFs
This year, our panel coalesced around three international funds limited to developed economies. The top vote-getter was Vanguard’s FTSE Developed All-Cap ex-North America Index ETF (VIU). It has one of the lower MERs in the category, holds 3,600 stocks and, importantly, includes exposure to South Korea’s industrial giants like Samsung and Hyundai. (Funds tracking other indices classify the country as an emerging market.)
Our judges also liked the TD International Equity Index ETF (TPE), which may have the lowest fees of any such fund trading in Canada. Panellist Tony Dong described it as having “all the benefits of a EAFE strategy with a lower cost benchmark in the form of the Solactive GBS Developed Markets ex-North America Large & Mid Cap CAD Index.”
In third place came the Canadian-dollar-hedged version of Vanguard’s aforementioned FTSE Developed All-Cap ex-North America fund, VI, which nullifies currency risk for Canadians and has a slightly lower MER to boot.
Honourable mention goes to the iShares Core MSCI EAFE IMI Index ETF (XEF) and the Vanguard Total International Stock ETF (VXUS), which trades in the U.S. (See the Best U.S. Equity ETFs for more on the implications of buying ETFs stateside.) Both finished just outside the top three funds.
Watch: Buying and Selling ETFs
