Canada has a market economy that is heavily dependent on international trade, especially with the US. Key industries include agriculture, forestry, mining, and manufacturing. Canada exports many natural resources and agricultural products. The US is by far Canada's largest trading partner, receiving over 70% of Canadian exports. Canada also trades significantly with the EU, UK, and China. Overall, Canadian exports have been growing in recent years, led by increases in energy exports.

1. OVERVIEW OF CANADIAN TRADE
1
Overview of Canadian
Trade
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Table of Contents
Introduction…………………………………………………………
……………….3
Overview of
economy……………………………………………………………….
3
Agriculture……………………………………………………………
……………...6
The forest
industry………………………………………………………………
…..7
Extractive
industry………………………………………………………………
…..8
Export…………………………………………………………………
…………….10

2. Import…………………………………………………………………
…………….13
Conclusion……………………………………………………………
……………..15
Introduction
Canada is considered as one of the most successful states in the
world. The country is a participant of the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development and a member of the
Big Eight. The country is one of the leading trading states in the
world. Canada ranks sixth in the world in terms of turnover of
foreign trade. Canada has a market economy with a slightly
greater state intervention than in the United States, but much
less than in most European countries.
Overview of economy
Canada is a trading country. Its exports exceed 200 milliard
dollars, while imports had passed for 150 milliard dollars
(Kippen, 2014). The geographical position of Canada had
determined the orientation of its foreign trade in two countries:
the United States as a market for raw materials and semi-
finished products, and the UK as a major consumer of
agricultural products and certain types of industrial raw
materials. It should be noted that 70-80% of Canadian trade is
with the United States. In its foreign trade activities Canada is
based on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
25% of goods produced in Canada is exported, and in industries
such as pulp-paper industry, lumbering and the aluminum
industry, the export volume of more than half the volume of
production. Canada ranks first in the United States imports. The
importation into the United States many Canadian goods is
produced by special bilateral agreements on free trade, and
some kinds of raw materials and fuel are exported from Canada
to the US is limited by quotas. The adoption of the Canadian-
American Free Trade Agreement (1989) made it possible to
eliminate barriers to trade between the two countries and to

3. develop a bilateral mechanism for the settlement of disputes
(McDougall, 2006). Any party that has some claims may bring
them to one of the trade tribunals. In addition, the North
American Agreement on Trade between the United States,
Canada and Mexico increased the possibility of entrepreneurs
and has created a single market with a number of consumers in
360 million people and the economic space, which is estimated
in the trillions of dollars. Besides the United States, Canada is
developing trade with other partners, especially the countries of
the Common Market, China and Japan.
Canada has always had a lower level of gross domestic product
(GDP) per capita than in its neighbor to the south, however
higher than in the industrialized countries of Western Europe.
Since the 1990s, thanks to the reform conducted by the State
and management of the state that coming from the principle of
economic liberalism, the public debt varies from 68.4% of GDP
in 1994 to 38.7% - in 2004 due to the "series" of budget
surpluses. The last ten years, after a period of economic
recovery, the Canadian economy is growing rapidly with low
unemployment and a large surplus of the federal budget. The
share of federal government spending in GDP went from 19 to
12%, total government spending declined by about 10%. In
January 2013, the state unemployment rate was the lowest since
1974 amounting to 5.8% and provincial unemployment rates
ranged from 3.2% to 12.2% (Kippen, 2014).
The impressive growth of the manufacturing and mining sectors
as well as service sectors has transformed almost completely
agrarian state into a predominantly industrial with a
predominance of the urban population (Baldwin & Hanel, 2003).
Service industry, which employs millions Canadians prevails in
the Canadian economy as in other advanced industrialized
countries. However, Canada differs from the other
industrialized countries with an important position of the
mining industry in its economy, in particular, its oil industry

4. and forestry.
Canada is an active supplier of energy. In Canada, there are gas
fields on the east coast and large oil and gas reserves, occurring
mainly in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan. Canada
ranks eighth among oil-producing countries due to the large
spaces of Bitumen in Athabasca. Rich sources of cheap
renewable hydropower are in British Columbia, Manitoba,
Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador (Kippen, 2014).
The country is one of the world's most important suppliers of
agricultural products, mainly due to the western provinces-the
largest suppliers of wheat and cereals, coordinated by the
Canadian Wheat Board. Canada is the world's second largest
diamond producer, is the largest producer of zinc and is a leader
in the manufacturing of many other natural resources such as
nickel, aluminum, gold and lead. Canada also has a significant
industrial sector, concentrated mainly in southern Ontario,
where there are a number of car assembly plants, carrying out
orders of American automotive giants, and in Quebec, with its
aerospace complex (Kippen, 2014). The country occupies a
leading positions in telecommunications, biotechnology and
pharmaceutical industries.
Canada is heavily dependent on international trade, especially
on trade with the United States, in part due to the development
extractive industries. The North American Free Trade
Agreement has caused a spectacular increase in trade and
economic integration of Canada and the US. Having experienced
a slowdown in economic growth in 2001, which was not
considered through the technical point of view as a decline
because lasted less than six months, Canada did not have any
recession since 1991 and has a better overall economic
performance of the G-8 (McDougall, 2006). A large
contribution to the economy is making automotive industry, as
well as advanced production of the machinery and equipment.

5. The Canadian economy has a strong export orientation, the
share of exports in GDP in 2013 – 34.6%. The trade balance is
positive-37.5 milliard Canadian dollars. The volume of
accumulated foreign direct investment in the Canadian economy
in 2013 amounted to 516.3 milliard dollars, and the Canadian
direct investment abroad -555.0 milliard dollars (Reynolds,
2008). The line on the full liberalization of trade, and active
participation in international and regional integration, in terms
of foreign trade, remains a priority.
The reforms in the mid 1980 had been the first steps of the
achievement of the current state. The result of the reforms in
the Canadian economy has been its general progress and a
significant improvement in the public finances. The main
achievements of neo-conservative and liberal reformers are the
following:
- The deregulation of the economy, large-scale privatization and
liberalization of the major extractive industries and
infrastructure;
- The elimination of the direct subsidies in agriculture and
transport;
- A balanced federal budget and the elimination of the budget
deficit in most provinces;
- The reduction of the state apparatus: the number of state
employees had been decreased by 40 thousand people;
- The creation of the new progressive sectors of the economy
and the expansion of the number of employees in the private
sector (Kippen, 2014).
Agriculture

6. Canada ranks fifth in the world in the collection of grain and is
one of the largest producers of wheat. Agriculture has a high
level of mechanization, concentration of production and high
labor productivity. The country fully meets its domestic demand
in the major types of food, and almost half of the production is
exported. The country occupies a leading positions in the
exporting of agricultural products. The export of grain,
primarily wheat, is of particular importance. The vast expanses
of fertile land, a variety of climatic conditions favor the
development of many branches of agriculture. About 10% of the
territory is occupied by the farm. Agriculture of Canada not
only meets the needs of the growing population of the country
in various food products, but also plays an important role in the
foreign trade of the country, giving 11% of the value of total
exports (Kippen, 2014). A special place is occupied by the grain
exports (about 35-million tons), mainly wheat (about 25-million
tons), for the export of which Canada is the second largest in
the world after the United States.
The forest industry
Canada accounts for 11-million tons of 50-million tons of
global trade. The positions of the top six leading wood
exporters on major commodity markets:
Tab. №1 Major Exporters
Total %
Wood raw materials (place, %)
Lumber (place, %)
Plywood and plate (place, %)
Cellulose (place, %)
Paper and paperboard (place, %)
Canada
20
7; 4

7. 1; 44
4; 7
1; 34
1; 23
USA
13
1; 24
2; 9
2; 8
2; 19
4; 9
Finland
10
17; 1
5; 5
11; 2
4; 7
2; 14
Sweden
9
12; 1
3; 9
16; 1
3; 12
3; 12
Germany
7
4; 7
8; 1
5; 5
16; 1
5; 8
France
4
6; 5
9; 1

8. 6; 5
10; 2
7; 4
Selective Cuttings (2014)
Timber and paper industry uses the rich forest resources.
Canada ranks first in the export of lumber and paper. Large
timber and paper mills are located in the east of the country as
well as in the taiga zone in the north of the Prairie provinces,
and especially in British Columbia, where it is concentrated 2/3
sawmilling industry.
Extractive industry
Mining industry stands out among the rest of the Canadian
industries with an exceptional variety of branches. Virtually all
of the major types of minerals that are necessary for the modern
industry is produced in a significant amounts. By the early
1980s in Canada were mining 26 kinds of metals, 24 species of
non-metallic minerals and all major mineral fuels. The
extraction of oil, natural gas, sulfur and potash is localized in
the southern part of the country. Natural gas, oil and coal are
widely exported.
Canada is one of the largest producers of aluminum, copper,
iron, nickel, gold, uranium and zinc. Saskatchewan uranium
reserves are the largest in the world. A variety of minerals in
Canada make it one of the world's largest exporters of mining
products. However, the two most important mineral resources
are oil and natural gas (Kippen, 2014). Alberta has significant
reserves of natural resources and is a national leader in their
production. There is the significant oil and gas exports to the
United States.
Describing the international trade of Canada, it may be noted
the critical importance of the foreign economic relations for the

9. development of the country. Canada stands in the first position
in terms of involvement in international trade in the Group of
Seven (Kippen, 2014). The foreign trade strategy of Canada is
built on the country's participation in the process of
globalization of the world economy (participation in the Group
of Seven, WTO), and the regional development orientation
(Opening New Markets, 2014).
Tab. №2 Exports and imports by the major trading partners of
Canada
Export
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
USA
328,9833
350,5763
368,2789
361,4421
355,743
369,8911
China
9,7995
9,8464
10,1728
10,2805
10,027
11,872
United Kingdom
7,6953
9,364
9,3605
11,2849

10. 14,1579
14,2069
European Union
16,4234
17,5338
18,6438
20,9088
24,3805
25,3904
Other countries
23,4664
27,4962
29,2085
33,2268
39,0721
47,4177
Import
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
USA
240,3563
250,0383
259,3329
265,0202
269,8287
280,7731
China
10,6455
10,0945
11,2131
11,8578
11,9752

11. 11,6694
United Kingdom
9,183
9,46
9,0665
9,5543
10,0172
11,3212
European Union
26,001
27,007
29,4873
32,5706
32,4094
35,3779
Other countries
36,8268
44,2744
54,4559
61,636
65,939
76,4395
Balance
56,412.6
65,848.0
62,372.2
49,605.5
47,898.0
46,868.9
USA
88,627.0
100,538.0
108,946.0
96,421.9
85,914.3
89,118.0

12. China
-846.0
-248.1
-1,040.3
-1,577.3
-1,948.2
202.6
United Kingdom
-1,487.7
-96.0
294.0
1,730.6
4,140.7
2,885.7
European Union
-9,577.6
-9,473.2
-10,843.5
-11,661.8
-8,028.9
-9,987.5
Other countries
-13,360.4
-16,778.2
-25,247.4
-28,409.2
-26,866.9
-29,021.8
International trade (2014)
The table clearly demonstrates that the United States is the main
and the unconditional trading partner of Canada. Canada also
develops foreign trade with other partners, in particular with the
European Union, the UK and China.
Export

13. A major role in the export of goods takes energy-26%, which is
125.79 million dollars, manufactured goods-23% - 111.5-
million dollars, machinery and equipment-19% - 92,99-million
dollars, automotive products-12% - 61.08 million dollars.
Despite the fact that Canada ranks first in the export of timber
and the second place in the export of wheat, only 8% of all
exports are agricultural products, that is 40.85 million dollars.
Tab. №3 Change in the commodity composition of exports from
2009 to 2013
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
Exports
429,0058
450,1499
453,7324
463,0514
489,8568
Agricultural and fishing products
30,6745
30,0968
31,2103
34,3703
40,8575
Energy
68,1058
86,9624
86,7889
91,6473
125,7922
Wood
39,4174

14. 36,4478
33,3314
29,2632
25,6592
Industrial goods
77,9533
83,9636
93,9055
104,4209
111,5115
Machinery and equipment
91,1061
93,0051
93,2715
93,4283
92,9944
Automotive Products
90,3887
87,9945
82,2983
77,3044
61,0826
Spare parts for equipment and machinery
17,2674
17,1477
17,8105
18,7367
18,1702
Trade in special operations
7,985
8,2882
8,7324
8,1759
8,1927
Unallocated indicators
6,1076

15. 6,2436
6,3836
5,7044
5,5967
International trade (2014)
As can be seen from the table, the export of goods and services
was growing with each passing year. So from 2009 to 2013, it
grew by $ 60 million. The average growth rate was 4.5%. The
largest growth rate was in 2013 and amounted to 5.7%.
USA is the largest trade partner of Canada. During the period of
the Canadian-American Free Trade Agreement the growth of
mutual trade is observed almost constantly. The only exception
is the period of 2001-2002 due to the economic turmoil that
emerged in the United States after September 11. Therefore,
foreign economic relations with the United States are extremely
important to Canada as the major consumers of Canadian goods
and services is the US market. In this regard, it is important to
note that Canadian-American Free Trade Agreement has
stimulated significant progress in the productivity and
specialization of the Canadian economy and helped to improve
the scales of the economy, product quality, price
competitiveness. The result was the increase in the overall
competitiveness of Canadian exports of both goods and
services. The main result of this was the boom in the foreign
trade of Canada. The volume of the Canadian exports in the
period since 1990 has doubled. The export growth rate was 10%
per year, on average, four times more than the growth rate of
GDP. Moreover, it is important to note that in the mid-1990s,
export growth was the main driver of business activity (Baldwin
& Hanel, 2003). It allowed Canada together with the United
States take the leading position in terms of economic
development in the Group of Seven.
For example, in 2011 the share of finished products in the

16. export of Canada was 71%, while imports – 85.7%. In general,
over the past period, the share of machinery and equipment had
increased from 28% to 45%. Canada exports to the United
States: 80% of the cars, about 65% of light industry products,
55% of rubber, 50% of electrical equipment, 50% of the steel
and industrial equipment. Canada is also a major supplier of
crude oil to the United States, about half of all Canadian oil and
gas flows to the United States (Baldwin & Hanel, 2003). As a
result of these circumstances, many have noted that after the
signing of the Canadian-American Free Trade Agreement,
Canada has become more vulnerable, and not sustainable.
Moreover, the acceleration and the in-depth economic
integration of Canada and the United States raise the question
about the future of their political integration, in other words-of
the possibility of absorption of Canada by the United States.
However, in the foreseeable future, this probably seems
unlikely.
China came in second place in terms of imports of goods from
Canada. Canadian exports to China had increased in 2013 by
16.4% to 18.5 milliard dollars, accounting for 4.3% of total
Canadian exports. The main products which are delivered to the
Chinese market are mineral products (14.2%), wood (13.6%),
oilseeds (12.8%).
United Kingdom has remained the main trading partner of
Canada in the EU. Canadian merchandise exports to the United
Kingdom in 2013 had remained at the level of 18.8 milliard
dollars. The share of the UK of total Canadian exports is 4.1%.
Precious metals, namely gold, diamonds and nickel, are the
main export commodities supplied from Canada to the UK, the
supply of which in 2013 had amounted to 80.2% of the total
supply.
Import

17. Canadian imports in 2013 increased by 2.4% and amounted to
462.3 milliard dollars. The major role in the structure of
imports of Canada has traditionally formed 4 major categories:
ground transportation (15.3%), nuclear reactors (14.6%),
mineral fuels (11, 1%) and electrical machinery and equipment
(9.8%). The United States has traditionally been a leader in
terms of supplies to Canada. In 2012, American imports of
goods had increased by 13% to 223.3 milliard dollars,
accounting for more than 50.6% of the total Canadian imports.
The main products were vehicles (19.5%), boilers, nuclear
reactors, mechanical and machinery equipment (15.1%), mineral
fuels (7.5%), electrical machinery and equipment (6, 4%).
China is the second largest import partner of Canada. In 2013,
imports from China had increased by 4.1% to 50.7 milliard
dollars, accounting for 11.0% of total imports into Canada. A
significant part of the supplies accounts for electrical machinery
and equipment (25.3%), boilers and nuclear reactors (20.0%),
furniture (5.8%) and toys (5.1%).
Mexico remains an important supplier of products to the
Canadian market. In 2013, imports from Mexico had amounted
to 25.5 milliard dollars, which is 2.8% more than in 2012. The
main imports were also vehicles (28.2%), electrical machinery
and equipment (24.1%), boilers and nuclear reactors,
mechanical and machinery equipment (14.5%).
Tab. №4 Change in the commodity structure of imports from
2009 to 2013
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
Imports

18. 363,1578
387,804
404,2526
415,0057
442,9879
Agricultural and fishing products
21,3987
22,0401
23,4541
25,4962
28,511
Energy
24,7817
33,6688
34,6284
36,5689
53,0719
Wood
3,1718
3,134
3,0839
2,995
2,8693
Industrial goods (metals)
73,5109
78,5784
84,0156
85,1323
91,5738
Machinery and equipment
104,0914
110,9216
114,6557
116,6321
122,6283
Automotive Products

19. 77,3678
78,3837
79,8498
80,002
71,959
Other consumer goods (clothing, footwear)
47,7191
49,488
52,0217
54,7939
57,5223
Trade in special operations
4,9671
4,6496
4,7713
5,1921
6,0007
International trade (2014)
Imports had increased from 363.18 to 442, 98 million dollars
that is 60 million dollars from 2009 to 2013. The average
growth rate of imports is 5%.
Conclusion
Canada is one of the richest countries with highly developed
economy. A distinctive feature of the Canadian economy is that
its main trading partner is the United States, accounting for 83%
of exports. In my opinion the fact that the United States is a
geographical neighbor of Canada contributes to the powerful
economic development. Canada is very similar to the United
States in regard to its market direction in the economic system,
its productive forces and its high standard of living. Rich in
natural resources and a highly economically active population,
Canada uses a serious economic opportunities that allowed the
economy to develop all the time.

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Kippen, B. (2014). Canada The True North Strong And Free: A
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McDougall, J. (2006). Drifting together: The political economy
of Canada-US integration. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview Press.
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