Canada races to seal India trade pact by year-end, deepen EU ties

Foreign Minister Anita Anand said on Wednesday that Ottawa is working quickly to conclude a trade pact with India before the year closes. She told Reuters the deal is part of a broader effort to lessen reliance on the United States, set against the backdrop of President Donald Trump's protectionist approach. Business Recorder reported that the same push extends to closer ties with the European Union, China and other partners.

Anand said talks were advancing satisfactorily, noting that a team of Indian negotiators recently toured Canada. Canada's trade minister, Maninder Sidhu, is currently in India leading a commercial mission. Prime Minister Mark Carney and Narendra Modi have discussed the agreement, and Modi is slated to visit Canada in December. Ottawa projects that a deal could lift two-way goods and services trade to USD70 billion a year by 2030, compared with USD30.4 billion in 2025.

Goods trade with India totalled USD10.9 billion in 2025, as Canadian exports fell 26.5 percent from 2024 while imports from India grew 18.9 percent. A uranium supply deal worth CUSD2.6 billion (USD1.8 billion), struck between Cameco and India earlier this year, was cited as a concrete result of stronger cooperation. Canada's Fairfax Financial Holdings has agreed to acquire a majority holding in India's IDBI Bank in a transaction worth 528.78 billion rupees (USD5.56 billion), which would be the largest cross-border bank deal in India.