List of the largest trading partners of Canada

NAFTA leaders Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Mexican President Peña Nieto, and U.S. President Barack Obama, 2014.

This is a list of the largest trading partners of Canada. Canada is considered to be a trading nation.[1][2][3]

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 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. Over time, more and more of Canada's trade was proportionally done with the United States. Various governments hoped to strengthen or reverse this trend, by changing tariff policy either to one of Imperial Preference with the British, Reciprocity with the National Policy of internal development and 1911 elections were fought partly over the issue of closer trade relationships with the British. Following their Civil War, the United States emerged as Canada's largest trading partner.[clarification needed] By the time the United Kingdom joined the European Economic Community 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 in 1988 (which was expanded into NAFTA by the addition of Mexico 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. 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 as of December 2016.[4] 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:[5]

Rank Territory Exports Imports Total trade Trade balance
- World 592,552.8 601,303.7 1,193,856.5 -8,750.9
1  United States 446,950.5 304,845.3 751,795.8 +142,105.2
-  European Union 48,196.4 77,197.9 125,394.3 -29,001.5
2  China 23,249.1 74,992.7 98,241.9 -51,743.6
3  Mexico 7,319.4 36,911.9 44,231.3 -29,592.5
4  Japan 12,522.8 16,518.1 29,040.8 -3,995.3
5  United Kingdom 19,807.5 9,191.9 28,999.5 +10,615.6
6  Germany 6,293.1 19,224.4 25,517.6 -12,931.3
7  South Korea 5,485.0 9,620.0 15,105.0 -4,135.0
8  Italy 3,241.0 9,452.6 12,693.5 -6,211.6
9  France 3,636.1 8,687.8 12,323.9 -5,051.7
10  India 4,782.1 5,457.1 10,239.3 -675.0
11  Netherlands 5,183.5 4,663.7 9,847.3 +519.8
12  Belgium 3,118.2 4,963.1 8,081.3 -1,844.9
13  Taiwan 2,040.6 5,968.0 8,008.6 -3,927.4
14  Vietnam 993.1 6,986.0 7,979.1 -5,992.9
15  Brazil 2,254.0 5,398.1 7,652.1 -3,144.1
16   Switzerland 1,434.4 4,946.0 6,380.4 -3,511.6
17  Saudi Arabia 2,819.1 3,294.6 6,113.7 -475.5
18  Spain 1,503.8 3,477.5 4,981.3 -1,973.7
19  Thailand 895.1 3,744.1 4,639.2 -2,849.0
20  Australia 2,257.5 2,337.0 4,594.5 -79.5
- Rest of the world 36,766.9 60,623.8 97,390.4 -23,856.9

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Canada is a Trading Nation - Canada's Major Trading Partners". Archived from the original on 2010-09-12. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  2. ^ http=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBoQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false
  3. ^ "OECD Statistics".
  4. ^ "International merchandise trade for all countries and by Principal Trading Partners, monthly". 18 November 2014.
  5. ^ "Annual Merchandise Trade". statcan.gc.ca.
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