us canada's largest trading partner is because of the commodity sector.
why is the us canada's largest trading partner?
commodity sector
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. the 1891 and 1911 elections were fought partly over the issue of closer trade relationships with the british. following the civil war, the united states emerged as canada's largest trading partner. 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.
list of the largest trading partners of canada
in 2011, malaysia was the european union's second largest trading partner in southeast asia after singapore and the 23rd largest trading partner for the european union in the world, while the european union was malaysia's 4th largest trading partner. major exports from malaysia including electrical and electronic products, palm oil, chemicals and chemical products, rubber products especially optical and scientific equipment, while european union major exports to malaysia are also electrical and electronic products with some other machinery, appliances and parts, chemicals and chemical products, transport equipment as well as iron and steel products. the total trade increasing from myr63.66 billion in 2011 to myr135 billion in 2013 with the european union becoming malaysia's third largest trading partner. the top three european union countries who are major investors in malaysia were the netherlands with myr2.4 billion, germany with myr 1.7 billion and united kingdom with myr500 million.
malaysia–european union relations