Canada, India trade deal negotiations good news for Saskatchewan

by Dylan Robertson

JOHANNESBURG — Prime Minister Mark Carney and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are reviving attempts at a comprehensive trade deal, which both countries started negotiating in 2010.

“The two leaders agreed to formally launch negotiations for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement,” Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand told The Canadian Press at the G20 summit in Johannesburg.

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She said the trade deal would include goods, services, investments, agriculture, digital trade, labour mobility and sustainable development, “to name a few,” and that negotiations will begin “as soon as possible.”

An Indian trade deal would be significant for Saskatchewan, where growers are subject to a 30-per cent-tariff India is imposing on yellow pea imports.

Premier Scott Moe has expressed concern to the federal government, saying a letter to federal government at the end of October that India is “an incredibly important market for Saskatchewan.”

The province shipped $480 million in pea exports to the country in 2024. Last year, Saskatchewan farmers grew 1.53 million tonnes of peas, which accounts for 51 per cent of all of Canada’s production.

The Saskatchewan government noted that the province and India had a good trade relationship, and it would be working to engage directly with the Indian government on the tariff issue.

“Now is the time to rely on and strengthen these relationships to come to a resolution to remove any additional tariffs on Canadian peas,” the letter read.

Anand said Modi and Carney discussed artificial intelligence, including “their mutual interest in furthering advancements in the use of AI and digital technology more generally.”

Anand met Modi during a three-day official visit to India in October as the two countries worked to strengthen ties after two years of diplomatic strain.

At the time, Anand said the meeting with the Indian prime minister was about building on the momentum from earlier this summer, when Modi was visiting Canada at the G7 summit and met Prime Minister Mark Carney.

Canada and India launched talks 15 years ago for a compressive deal known as a CEPA, but downgraded talks to instead work on a sectoral deal that would only touch on specific industries, up until fall 2023.

“The leaders are both moving with alacrity to ensure that this CEPA is concluded as soon as possible,” Anand said.

In 2023, Ottawa suspended trade talks after going public with allegations from the RCMP that the Indian government was behind an assassination near Vancouver of a Sikh activist, followed by coercion and extortion.

Canada and India working to rebuild trust

At a news conference ahead of his meeting with Modi, Carney insisted Sunday that both countries are maintaining a security dialogue to share information, maintain sovereignty and rebuild trust.

Earlier this year, federal inquiry branded New Delhi as one of the most active perpetrators of foreign interference in Canada.

“With respect to any forms of foreign interference, we have to remain vigilant — we are vigilant,” Carney said. He added that India is a reliable trade partner, even with occasional trade disputes.

Anand said both countries expect to be able to double two-way trade by 2030, to US$50 billion, and noted that Canada is India’s seventh largest trade partner for goods and services, and one of the largest foreign investors in India.

Canada on Saturday joined a trilateral agreement with India and Australia on advanced technologies.

Carney is likely to visit India next year, but he did not indicate when. One possibility is a February summit in New Delhi on AI, where Canada is leading a working group.

When asked the best time for a visit, Anand said both countries currently share many of the same concerns.

“The focus right now is on ensuring that we are securing investments that bolster the Canadian economy,” she said.

“Both countries are well aware of the fact that the global trading order is being realigned, and that the volatility in the geopolitical environment is also conspicuous.”

— with files from CKOM News

Read more:

• Talks with Trump will resume ‘when it’s appropriate,’ Mark Carney says
• At G20, Canada joins Europe and Japan in rejecting Trump’s Ukraine plan
• Carney looks to trade pacts at G20 to help navigate ‘this moment of rupture’