 With support from California ( because the state had profited from the import of sugar ) , Kalākaua again approached Congress . When the United States still seemed uninterested in reciprocity , he threatened to forge more favorable export agreements with Australia or New Zealand . Congress feared that a treaty between Hawaii and Australia or New Zealand would result in annexation by one of those countries instead of the United States . Although Kalākaua was loath to give any foreign country land in Hawaii , he signed the treaty in September 1887 . 
