The Triangle Trade
By the end of the seventeenth century, New England colonists had tapped into a sprawling Atlantic trade network that connected them to the English homeland as well as the West African slave coast, the Caribbean's plantation islands, and the Iberian Peninsula. Colonists relied upon British and European imports for glass, linens, hardware, machinery, navigational instruments, paint, and other household items. In contrast to the southern colonies, which could produce tobacco, rice, and indigo in exchange for imports, New England's colonies could not offer much to England beyond fish, furs, and naval stores. Nevertheless the New Englanders built a thriving mercantile network and a lucrative shipbuilding system; after all, they needed fishing boats, and the regional economy quickly became dependent upon the sort of trade that only ships could produce at the time. New Englanders began to profit mightily from trade with England, rather than simply supplying the mother country with cheap staples, as mercantilist doctrine demanded. In response, between 1698 and 1717 the English government imposed an unfavorable trade balance on New England and New York by raising duties against major colonial exports like fish (to protect English fisheries) and meat (to protect English agriculture). This meant that the colonies were forced to purchase more from England than they were able to sell back.
I'm sorry it's so long but that's the answer to your question... Hope this helps:)
