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India and Canada Kick Off Second Round of Free Trade Talks

India and Canada have begun the second round of negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement in New Delhi. The talks aim to fast-track the process and conclude the deal by year-end, as agreed by the prime ministers. The leaders set a target to expand bilateral trade to $50 billion by 2030. The negotiations follow a period of strained diplomatic ties under former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Key Points: India-Canada Free Trade Talks: Second Round Begins

  • Second round of India-Canada FTA talks begins in New Delhi
  • Target to conclude agreement by year-end
  • Bilateral trade target of $50 billion by 2030
  • Talks aim to improve ties strained under former PM Trudeau
2 min read

India, Canada kick off second round of free trade talks

India and Canada begin second round of FTA negotiations, aiming to seal a deal by year-end and boost bilateral trade to $50 billion by 2030.

"The attempt is to fast-track talks so that the agreement can be concluded by the year-end as decided by the Prime Ministers of the two countries earlier this year. - senior official"

New Delhi, May 5

India and Canada began the second round of negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement, with the two sides aiming to seal the deal by year-end.

The five-day talks in New Delhi come on Monday ahead of the Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal's scheduled visit to Canada at the end of this month to accelerate the momentum of the economic engagement as the two countries target increasing bilateral trade to $50 billion by 2030.

"The attempt is to fast-track talks so that the agreement can be concluded by the year-end as decided by the Prime Ministers of the two countries earlier this year," a senior official told IANS.

The first round of negotiations for the pact, officially called the India-Canada Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), took place in March this year following Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi.

Prime Minister Carney's visit to India set the tone for a marked improvement in diplomatic ties between the two countries that had hit rock bottom during his predecessor Justin Trudeau as Canada's Prime Minister.

The Trudeau government was seen to be encouraging Sikh extremists to pursue an 'anti-India' agenda in Canada.

Prime Minister Modi and his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney set a year-end target to complete the negotiations for the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between the two countries and agreed to deepen bilateral collaboration in the energy and critical mineral sectors during their meeting at New Delhi in March this year.

"The leaders expressed confidence that a comprehensive trade framework would serve as a durable economic anchor for the partnership and support the shared aspiration of expanding bilateral trade to CAD 70 billion/Rs 4.65 lakh crore by 2030," according to joint statement issued after the summit between the two leaders.

India-Canada bilateral trade in goods stood at $8.66 billion in 2024-25, while India's exports to the country touched $4.22 billion.

Major items of India's exports to Canada include pharmaceutical products, machinery parts and mechanical appliances, iron and steel articles, electronic goods, organic chemicals, jewellery, gems and precious stones, garments and textiles, seafood, engineering goods and auto parts.

India's major imports from Canada include pulses, fertilisers, mineral fuels, wood pulp, gems and precious stones, aircraft parts, machinery parts, and iron and aluminium scrap.

India's IT sector is the main contributor to services exports to Canada.

- IANS

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Reader Comments

J
James A
Interesting development. As someone who follows trade, India has been signing many FTAs recently - UAE, Australia, now Canada. The CAD 70 billion target is ambitious given current trade is only about CAD 12 billion. But with Modi-Carney chemistry seeming better than with Trudeau, maybe this time it'll work.
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Priya S
Finally some sanity in diplomatic relations! 🙏 The last few years with Canada were so unnecessary - all because of one country encouraging extremism. Now let's focus on business. Our seafood and garments exporters will benefit greatly. But I hope we negotiate hard on the movement of professionals - Canadian work permits for our IT folks should be easier.
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Vikram M
Good step forward. But I'm cautiously optimistic. FTAs sound great on paper but implementation is key. Our exporters often struggle with non-tariff barriers like Sanitary and Phytosanitary standards. Canadian regulations are strict. Let's see if the deal includes mutual recognition agreements for standards.
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Sarah B
As a Canadian-Indian, I see both sides. Canada needs to diversify trade away from US and China, India needs stable partners. But the elephant in the room is still the Khalistan issue - not resolved, just papered over. Carney needs to show concrete action on curbing extremists, not just nice statements.
R
Rohit P
Critical minerals collaboration is a big opportunity! 🪨 Canada has lithium, graphite, rare earths - exactly what India needs for EV and electronics manufacturing. If this FTA secures supply chains for these, it's a strategic win beyond just trade figures. Also, our germ labs and jewellery exports to Canada can boom.

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