My uncle recently established an international trading network that
has offices in 16 countries. He insisted I join him and head up the
Canadian branch. Our basic goal is to trade all kinds of goods
(textiles, leather products, electronics, commodities, etc...) between
each country. For instance, we find a manufacturer in China that can
make a widget for $1 and we sell it to a wholesale/retailer in Bolivia
for $2. I am inexperienced in int'l trade as I just graduated from
college, but I do have good business acumen and salesmanship as I have
quite a bit of experience in the business world. My problem is, I just
don't know how to start making deals. I have been bombarded by e-mails
and documents from our various worldwide branches that are related to
what products they can provide and what they need. For example, the
branch in Pakistan said that the country imports X dollars worth of
garlic every year from the Netherlands. Details about the type of
garlic and the FOB price were provided. I am supposed to see if I can
get the same type of garlic at a cheaper price. Another example: I
received a message from one of our offices that said leather wallets
and belts can be produced very cheaply for export, and requested me to
find out if I could find a buyer for these goods in Canada. How do I
go about doing all this? Do I contact companies and go with samples?
Should I contact wholesalers or retailers? How do I present myself and
what I do? I realize my question might be confusing, so feel free to
ask for clarification.

sounds like you're asking how to be a sales rep.  You have product X
and need to find buyers.  It's the same principle.  Unfortunately
unless someone is into your industry I doubt they'll be able to help
you out much.

Say you were tryign to sell an XBOX video game.  How would you go
about it?  Would you approach the stores individually?  Would you
approach the headquaters and wow the director with the gameplay? 
You'd be wasting your time, since to get to any store, you need to
prove to the distribution companies that your game can sell.  But one
might not know this unless they deal with the video gaming industry.

You can try going to those companies and asking who their distributors
are in Canada, and maybe strike a deal with the distribution
companies.  Failing that, try the companies themselves.