Canada's Trade with Trans-Pacific Countries

Abstract

C ANADA'S TRADE RELATIONS with the Orient go deeply into the past. It was the search for a shorter route to China that first attracted the discoverers to the west coast of British North America. We read that Captain Cook's ships, on their way home from the northwest Pacific, touched at Canton in 1780 and disposed of sea-otter skins there. After Cook, Meares and other maritime fur traders carried their furs across the Pacific, and some took timber also. With the depletion of the sea-otter in the early nineteenth century, trade dwindled and, for generations, contacts between the two sides of the Pacific were slight. The development of trade between British North America and the Orient was delayed by the difficulties of trans-continental travel and by disputes over the ownership of Canada's Pacific region. The latter was settled in 1846 by an agreement between Great Britain and the United States on present boundaries. In 1867 the Dominion of Canada was formed, and in 1871 the province of British Columbia entered the Confederation. With the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885 came a slow but steady increase in trade. In 1870 Canada imported from China and Japan $438,000 worth of goods, practically all tea. In 1890 imports from China were valued at $842,000, and exports at only $32,000, while imports from Japan were $1,258,000 and exports only $26,000. In addition to tea, early imports from the Orient comprised fancy goods such as fans, bracelets, ornamental boxes, toys, etc. Canada's early exports to the Orient comprised mostly wood products, such as planks and boards, spars, laths, and shingles. After the turn of the century Canada, like many other countries, took active steps to promote international trade, among which was the setting up of commercial agents in foreign coun-