Canada and India are aiming to scale their bilateral trade from USD 30 billion to USD 70 billion over the next five years, with ongoing free trade negotiations expected to conclude in the coming months, Canadian International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu said on Thursday (local time).
“I have concluded the fourth round of negotiations for the Canada trade deal with my counterpart, Mr Maninder Sidhu in Mumbai on Friday. How do we get there? Part of it is through the greater facilitation of free trade. Right now, negotiations are ongoing to see what we can do together to build our economies in a complementary manner rather than competing with one another. Canadian companies are involved in many infrastructure projects there, building airports and highways. We want to see more cooperation, and we also welcome Indian investors to invest in our mining and energy projects so we can grow together. It involves trade, investments, research, and collaboration. “Well, negotiations are ongoing, so I will be very careful about detailing that through the media. However, you can tell from my conversations that it is about collaboration. India is looking to diversify some of its supply chains. If you look at critical minerals, India has a growing auto sector, and for EVs and batteries, Canada is the only country in the Western Hemisphere that has every single element to make an electro-paddock. And so there is something that we can add. We just held our investment summit in Toronto. We had a lot of amazing investors come to Canada… So we have a lot of projects that we can work on together, energy, critical minerals, aerospace, and others,” he added. Very productive discussions, and both sides have resolved to fast-track negotiations, in view of which our team is now slated to go for the fifth round. Fifth of October. So you can see that as the progress is taking shape, the speed of negotiations with Canada is also improving.
Addressing key sectors involved in the trade deal, the minister stated that while detailed specifics remain confidential due to ongoing talks, the focus remains heavily on supply chain diversification. Speaking at the 2026 G20 Trade Ministers Meeting in Milwaukee on the India-Canada trade deal, Sidhu said, “The vision that leaders have set out for us is to scale trade from USD 30 billion to USD 70 billion within the next five years. Underlining Canada’s existing financial footprint in India, Sidhu pointed out that “Canada is the largest collective investor in India, with over USD 100 billion invested. We came out with about $500 million in commitments. Let’s see, the next 90 days should be a very defining period in the Canada-India relationship,” he said.
