Canada will keep pushing for open international commerce.Ottawa—Trade is vital to Canadian prosperity and the government will continue joint efforts with international partners to enable supply chains to cope with unjustified restrictions, says Trade Minister Mary Ng.Trade accounted for “nearly two thirds of our national economy and supported 3.3 million Canadian jobs before COVID-19,” she said in her department's State of Trade 2020 report. In response to the pandemic many countries erected trade barriers to protect their domestic markets.“Global supply chains are under pressure now more than ever,” she said. In response, the government is searching “new ways to serve and better support Canadian business owners and entrepreneurs to succeed in the global marketplace.“As COVID-19 swept the world, many countries responded by closing their doors to trade in an effort to protect their people,” she said. “But COVID-19 should not—cannot—be used as an excuse to stop trading or to turn inward.”Canada's existing free trade agreements give domestic businesses “accessto 1.5 billion customers around the world and creates more opportunities and jobs for Canadians. Discussions are underway with Mercosur, the Pacific Alliance and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to increase the number of trade deals.The pandemic ended an international economic expansion “that began in mid 2009 following the 2007-2008 global financial crisis,” the report said. “Even before the pandemic took hold in countries around the world,2019 was shaping up to be a rough year for the global economy marked by rising global tensions, trade policy uncertainty between the United States and China, and the BREXIT process.”Canada's agriculture exports improved in March 2020 compared to the year prior, the report said. Exports rose 13 per cent led by a 60 per cent increase in oil seed shipments and 49 per cent increase in vegetable sales.So far in 2020, Canada's trade with most of its top 10 trading partners was impacted from COVID-19 to some degree. In March, drops in exports ranged from 3.2 per cent in shipments to Japan to 35 per cent for the United Kingdom. Imports declined by 35 per cent with Japan at 5.1 per cent and China at 24 per cent.Trade with the United States was mildly affected with declines of about 6 per cent for both exports and imports, the report said. The COVID-19 crisis highlights the critical role of global supply chains and the many choke points that may disrupt exports and imports.“Many manufacturing sectors emerge as particularly vulnerable to global shocks due to their reliance on both foreign suppliers for inputs and foreign markets for sales. On the other hand, retail and other service industries may be less vulnerable to disruption because they rely more on domestic markets and suppliers.“Looking forward, the challenge will be to coordinate global supply and demand—an ongoing lesson for the world's economies as they ease restrictions and get back to business in the shadow of COVID-19,” the report said.Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist and writes for domestic and international publications about agriculture, food and transportation issues. He's also the author of two science fiction novels with more in the works.