Canada’s Foreign Minister says Ottawa is working fast to advance India trade deal

CAPETOWN : Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand said on Monday (November 24, 2025) that Canada and India will move quickly to advance a trade deal after two years of strained relations, noting Ottawa has a new foreign policy in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war.

Ms. Anand’s statement follows a meeting between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi at the Group of 20 summit in South Africa this past weekend, where the leaders agreed to restart stalled talks for a new trade deal.

Relations between Canada and India have been strained since Canadian police accused New Delhi of playing a role in the June 2023 assassination of a Canadian Khalistani leader near Vancouver.”The leaders were adamant that this work proceed as quickly as possible so that timing is going to be expeditious,” Ms. Anand said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Ms. Anand noted Mr. Carney’s goal to double non-U.S. trade over the next decade. Canada is one of the most trade-dependent countries in the world, and more than 75% of Canada’s exports go to the U.S. Most exports to the U.S. are exempted by the USMCA trade agreement but that deal is up for review in 2026.

“This is a completely new approach to foreign policy that is responsive to the global economic environment in which we find ourselves,” Ms. Anand said. “There is a new government, a new foreign policy, a new Prime Minister and a new world order where countries are becoming more protectionist and this is a moment for Canada as a trading nation.” Canada is also seeking better relations with Beijing. Mr. Carney and Chinese President Xi Jinping took a step toward mending the long-fractured ties between their countries last month with a meeting at the Asia-Pacific summit.

In 2023, Ottawa suspended trade talks after going public with allegations from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that the Indian government was behind the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Nijjar, 45, was fatally shot in his pickup truck after he left the Sikh temple he led in Surrey, British Columbia.

Relations improved in June when Mr. Carney invited Mr. Modi to the G7 summit in Alberta and when both countries agreed to restore their top diplomats in August.

“This is a step by step process. And in the last six months, significant steps have been taken,” Ms. Anand said.