Anand says she’s asked for updated Indo-Pacific strategy as PM heads to Asia

OTTAWA — As Prime Minister Mark Carney makes his first official trip to Asia, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says the regional policy the Trudeau government released three years ago is outdated and should now place economic interests at its core.

“What I’m saying to the department now is we need to update that Indo-Pacific strategy. It is not reflective of our economic ambitions in the region,” Anand said Thursday at an event held by the Canada 2020 think tank.

“It was fine in 2022 but our relationships in the region have changed. We are on a different footing with India and China.”

The plan Ottawa released three years ago branded Beijing as a “disruptive global power” whose values don’t align with Canada. Anand now calls China a strategic partner.

Anand visited both Beijing and New Delhi earlier this month seeking a “reset” with India after two years of diplomatic strain and a “recalibrated” relationship with China following a round of retaliatory tariffs.

“We need to re-engage that Indo-Pacific strategy. So you should expect to see something on that front,” Anand said.

Canada’s trade with both China and India has increased in recent years, though Anand said its relationships with the two countries are very different.

Canada has experienced two years of diplomatic chill with New Delhi after the federal government accused Indian government agents of playing a role in acts of murder, extortion and coercion targeting Sikh Canadians.

Polling has shown Canadians remain cautious about engaging with Beijing after it imprisoned two Canadians in retaliation for the arrest of a Chinese tech executive at the request of Washington in 2018.

Anand said the access Canada has to various markets in Asia through existing trade deals must “translate into … tangible metrics for us” economically, including exports of liquefied natural gas across the Pacific Ocean.

“This has to be a full-court press, given the importance of the Indo-Pacific in our broader economic future,” she said. “This is a type of pragmatism that has not been present in diplomacy.”

Anand said she spoke with Carney in January — the same month former prime minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation — about “re-establishing relationships with our necessary trading partners, and in particular India.”

Anand said she found herself aligned with Carney and started thinking about returning as a Liberal candidate, after already announcing she would be retiring from politics.

She also said she pushes her officials to clearly outline Canada’s interests in any documents she’s presented with ahead of conversations with foreign counterparts.

“I do not want briefing notes that simply provide general information about a country, and some defensive lines about what they may ask of us,” she said.

“I want to know what we are going to be putting on the table, what is in Canada’s interest … That’s the kind of thing I’m driving at GAC.”

Anand she is “going to be doing more work in the Gulf region.”

Carney said earlier this month he plans to visit the United Arab Emirates next month “on the way to the G20” summit in South Africa in November.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2025.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press