You'd have to have a significantly different planet for that to work.
I'm not sure if one where its navigable year-round and one like enough to Earth for this not to be an alien world, possibly inhospitable to humans, are compatible.
But ignoring that for discussion's sake: I'm not sure it would matter very much. Is it really quicker than around Africa or South America, all things considered?
Provided it was actually safe, it would be considerably quicker and healthier. (look at it on a globe, not a map) The Cape Hoorn route tended to be avoided by commercial shhipping well into the nineteenth century for its dangers, and the Cape Route was used faute de mieux. Of course the climatic differences could potentially be huge,m unless we postulate a geologically unlikely, but convenient canal through Canada.
Immediately, it would make no great difference to trade patterns. Most European trade was with India and Africa, c. 1500, and the American possessions were easily accessed through the Caribbean. But in the longer run, this would have huge consequences. For one thing, Spain would concentrate much more on North America, leading to a very different patternmm of colonisation. And once the China trade opens up in earnest, the Northwest Passage will be one of the world's busier shipping lanes. China was so profitable, Russians brought caravans of Chinese goods across Siberia to Mangaseya for sale to British merchants in the 1620s. If it's worth that expense, it's worth crossing the north Pacific.