This is a list of the largest trading partners of Canada. Canada is considered to be a

trading nation A trading nation (also known as a trade-dependent economy, or an export-oriented economy) is a country where international trade makes up a large percentage of its economy. Smaller nations (by population) tend to be more trade-dependent than larg ...

Historically, the issue of Canada's largest trade partners, and dependence on particular markets, has been a major political issue. At the time of

Confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

in 1867, the United Kingdom was by far Canada's largest trading partner, reflecting the close historical, cultural, and institutional ties within the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

. Over time, more and more of Canada's trade was proportionally done with the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Various governments hoped to strengthen or reverse this trend, by changing tariff policy either to one of

Imperial Preference Imperial Preference was a system of mutual tariff reduction enacted throughout the British Empire following the Ottawa Conference of 1932. As Commonwealth Preference, the proposal was later revived in regard to the members of the Commonwealth of N ...

with the British, Reciprocity with the

National Policy The National Policy was a Canadian economic program introduced by John A. Macdonald's Conservative Party in 1876. After Macdonald led the Conservatives to victory in the 1878 Canadian federal election, he began implementing his policy in 1879. The ...

of internal development. The 1891 and 1911 elections were fought partly over the issue of closer trade relationships with the British. Following their

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, the United States emerged as Canada's largest trading partner. By the time the United Kingdom joined the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...

in 1973, the idea of the UK as an alternative to the USA as Canada's largest market was no longer viable. Canada and the United States signed the

Free Trade Agreement A free-trade agreement (FTA) or treaty is an agreement according to international law to form a free-trade area between the cooperating states. There are two types of trade agreements: bilateral and multilateral. Bilateral trade agreements occur ...

in 1988 (which was expanded into

NAFTA The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA ; es, Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte, TLCAN; french: Accord de libre-échange nord-américain, ALÉNA) was an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that crea ...

by the addition of

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

in 1994). Since that time the United States has dominated Canadian trade by an overwhelming degree. After the Wars, trade with Asia began to expand, especially

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. After the opening of Canada–People's Republic of China relations in 1970, trade with China has expanded rapidly. The 20 largest trade partners of Canada represent 94.0% of Canada's exports, and 91.9% of Canada's imports . These figures do not include services or foreign direct investment. The largest partners of Canada with their total trade (sum of imports and exports) in millions of Canadian Dollars for calendar year 2019 are as follows:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of The Largest Trading Partners Of Canada Foreign trade of Canada Trading partners Canada economy-related lists Lists of trading partners

See also

References