Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- President-elect Barack Obama will visit Canada in his first international trip as president, his transition office said.

Obama “looks forward to his visit to Canada,” said Brooke Anderson, a transition spokeswoman. “It will be the first foreign trip of his presidency, underscoring the importance of the relationship between the United States and Canada.”

Canada is the biggest U.S. trading partner, followed by China and Mexico, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Canada and the U.S. exchanged goods worth C$1.67 billion ($1.37 billion) a day in 2008. Canada’s exports to the U.S. have more than tripled since 1989, the first year the two countries implemented an accord that became the North American Free Trade Agreement, or Nafta, when Mexico joined in 1994.

Obama said during the Democratic primary campaign that he wanted to renegotiate Nafta to include more protection for U.S. workers. He has since softened that position.

Anderson said no date for the trip has been set. The offices of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Obama didn’t reveal the agenda for their meeting.

Canada, the world’s eighth-biggest economy, is in a recession as businesses struggle to find credit, auto and lumber shipments to the U.S. slump and oil and other commodity prices fall. Gross domestic product will shrink by 0.4 percent next year, producing the country’s first budget deficit in more than a decade, Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said last month.

Automaker Aid

The governments of Canada and the province of Ontario agreed Dec. 20 to lend the Canadian units of General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC C$4 billion ($3.3 billion), a day after President George W. Bush said the automakers would get $13.4 billion in emergency loans.

Obama’s visit to Canada will continue the practice of a newly elected U.S. president going to one of America’s bordering neighbors before visiting any other country.

In 2001, in his first international trip, President George W. Bush went to Mexico to confer with his then-counterpart, Vicente Fox.

Obama’s plan to visit Canada was first disclosed by Harper’s office yesterday.

Obama’s office announced on Jan. 8 that he would meet in Washington tomorrow with Mexican President Felipe Calderón, at the Mexican Cultural Institute.

“There is a longstanding tradition, since 1980, of U.S. presidents meeting with the Mexican president prior to being sworn in to underscore the important relationship between the United States and Mexico,” said transition spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

To contact the reporter on this story: Edwin Chen in Washington at Echen32@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: January 11, 2009 11:48 EST