List of the largest trading partners of Canada
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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:


See also

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List of the largest trading partners of Australia This is a list of the largest trading partners of Australia. According to data obtained in the 2018 calendar year, China was the largest partner followed by Japan and the European Union. The largest trading partners The 10 largest trading partner ...
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List of the largest trading partners of China This is a list of the largest trading partners of the People's Republic of China. Background China has become the world's second largest economy by GDP (Nominal) and largest by GDP (PPP). 'China developed a network of economic relations with bo ...
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List of the largest trading partners of the European Union According to the European Commission Directorate-General for Trade. The 10 largest trading partners of the European Union with their total trade (sum of imports and exports) in millions of euro for calendar year 2021 are as follows. In the table, ...
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List of the largest trading partners of Germany This is a ranked list of the ten largest trading partners of Germany in 2019, based on data from the Federal Statistical Office of Germany (Destatis). In 2016, China became Germany's largest trading partner and has retained that spot for the year ...
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List of the largest trading partners of Italy This is a list of the largest trading partners of Italy based on data from the Ministry of Economic Development of Italy. List of the largest trading partners of the Netherlands This is a list of the largest trading partners of the Netherlands based on data from The Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC).
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List of the largest trading partners of India According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (India), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the fifteen largest trading partners of India represent 59.37% of total trade by India in the financial year 2019-2020. These figures include trade in ...
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List of the largest trading partners of Russia This is a list of the largest trading partners of Russia based on data from The Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC).
The Obse ...
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List of the largest trading partners of United Kingdom This is a list of the largest trading partners of United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the con ...
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List of the largest trading partners of the United States The 30 largest trade partners of the United States represent 87.9% of U.S. exports, and 87.4% of U.S. imports . These figures do not include services or foreign direct investment. The largest US partners with their total trade in goods (sum of im ...


References

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