Trade of North America
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
North American trade patterns offer noteworthy contrasts. Canada, with a small population
but with immense resources and high productivity, has a low home consumption and depends on
foreign trade more than any other developed country on the continent. The United States, on the
other hand, with a vast internal market and the highest per capita consumption of goods in the
world, depends mainly on internal trade, although external trade has risen considerably since
World War II and now accounts for about one-fourth of its total trade. Mexico and Central
America, by contrast, still have large areas where people live at a subsistence level and produce
little more than goods for local trade. Production of certain metals, oil, and tropical crops,
however, has expanded rapidly for sale in foreign markets.
North American Free Trade Agreement(From left) Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de
Gortari, U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney meeting to
initial the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, Texas, October 7, 1992.
In 1992 Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a controversial trade pact that gradually eliminated most tariffs and
other trade barriers on products and services passing between the three countries. The pact
effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America.
The Canadian segment
Canada’s internal trade is dominated by the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together
they account for a large portion of the country’s manufactured goods, which they have
historically shipped across Canada in exchange for fish, lumber, and fruit from British Columbia,
wheat and meat from the Prairie Provinces, and pulpwood, iron ore, and fish from the Atlantic
provinces. Much of Canada’s trade abroad consists of raw or semiprocessed materials—
including pulp, paper, lumber, iron ore, nickel, lead and zinc, and uranium—along with red meat
sent to Britain, the United States, and Japan and wheat exported to the United States, Indonesia,
Iraq, and Japan. Some oil and natural gas, as well as vegetable oils, processed fruits and
vegetables, and snack foods, are sold to the United States.
Until World War II, Canada traded mainly with Britain; during that time, the United States
still produced a surplus of most of the things Canada raised and thus was not a major customer.
Canada, in fact, bought far more from the United States than it sold to it. By the late 20th
century, however, the United States had become short of metals, wood, pulp and paper, power,
and water and was importing these items from its neighbour on an increasing scale. It has thus
replaced Britain as Canada’s chief market. The European Union and Japan also are important
customers for Canada’s metals, wood products, and wheat.
The United States segment
Internal trade in the United States is enormous, often surpassing that among sovereign
states on other continents. It was long dominated by New England’s need for fuel, cotton and
wool, leather, wood products, and metals; by the mid-Atlantic states’ demand for coal, oil,
natural gas, iron ore and other metals, and food products; by the Pittsburgh region’s need for
iron, copper, oil, and gas; by the lower Great Lakes–Lake Michigan area’s need for coal, oil, gas,
iron, pulp and paper, and wood; and by the Los Angeles–San Francisco region’s demand for
steel, aluminum, cellulose products, oil, and chemicals.
Traditionally, most of the other areas of the United States have traded their raw materials or
semifinished goods to these major manufacturing regions, though of course there are local
industrial centres of importance. Trade is concentrated in servicing, or in being served, by such
large metropolitan centres as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.
These cities also handle a great deal of American foreign trade. Southeastern ports send out
cotton, tobacco, and wood products, among other commodities, and the mid-Atlantic coast ports
send out wheat, corn, meat, and a wide range of manufactured products.
Since the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the major cities along the Great Lakes
have been directly exporting the steel products, cars, airplanes, agricultural machinery, cereals,
and meat for which the northern Midwest is famous. New Orleans continues as an exporter of
cotton, corn, and other agricultural products from the vast Mississippi hinterland, although oil
and grain now are more important, while trade from Houston’s busy port is based on oil and
chemical products. Los Angeles dominates the West Coast with its sales of computer and
electronic products, transportation equipment, aircraft, ships, motion pictures, and chemicals.
Seattle is important for its trade in computer and electronic products, fish and forest products,
and aircraft. American imports include a wide variety of products: tropical fruits, woods, fibres,
and vegetable extracts, mainly from Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia; oil from
Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Colombia; tin from Peru, Indonesia, Bolivia, and
Malaysia; wool principally from New Zealand and Australia; and a wide range of motor
vehicles, machines, textiles, instruments, and books from Japan and western Europe.
American trade has a worldwide distribution and impact: of its export total, about one-third
goes to western Europe; roughly another one-third goes to Mexico and Canada; and more than
one-fifth goes to Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. . Of almost equal
importance has been the widespread influence of American foreign aid: while initially this
helped American trade by being tied to the use of domestically manufactured equipment, it has
become much freer and enables countries to develop their own agriculture or industry in the most
satisfactory way.
The Mexican and the Central American segments
The Latin American portion of the continent includes some highly sophisticated regions,
along with many as yet undeveloped areas. In Mexico’s internal trade the capital region
predominates, producing most of the country’s manufactures, which are then distributed through
regional cities. Mexico City consumes much of the domestically used oil piped up from the
coast, the metals of the Cordilleran mines, the cotton of the irrigated central and western basins,
and hemp from Yucatán. Petroleum exports became a steadily growing part of Mexico’s external
trade following the discovery of vast oil reserves in the Bay of Campeche in 1972. Within a
decade, petroleum sales represented by far the greatest portion of Mexican export earnings. The
oil exports have given Mexico higher income, but they also have placed the country in danger of
becoming overly dependent on a commodity that is subject to market fluctuations. In an effort to
avoid the consequences of such dependence, the government has attempted to diversify the
country’s export economy. This effort has involved expanding Mexico’s industrial base,
increasing the export of manufactured goods, and augmenting the export of agricultural goods
and metals.
Imports consist predominantly of manufactured goods and of parts and materials needed
for Mexican industries. Machinery, vehicles, and consumer goods are the chief items. The
United States has the greatest share of Mexico’s foreign trade, providing the greatest portion of
the imports and exports. Since 1960, however, more of Mexico’s trade has been oriented toward
Latin America. Mexico is also trying to send more winter fruits and vegetables, textiles, and
leather goods to Canada.
Central America has developed a limited amount of trade. By far the greatest exports are
tropical fruits, coffee, sugar, fibres, and minerals (especially from the Caribbean), which are sent
to the United States in exchange for American manufactured goods. Increasingly, virtually the
whole of North America is being integrated in its economic development with the growth of the
United States.
