PM likely to visit Canada in Dec: What’s on agenda as Carney eyes India-Canada trade deal around G20

CANADIAN Prime Minister Mark Carney said this week that trade negotiations with India are making "good progress" and that the two countries are aiming to conclude talks by the G20 summit in mid-December.

Carney also said India had, to his understanding, confirmed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would visit Canada around that time, though the precise date had not been finalised, news agency AP said.

"We are making good progress in our trade negotiations with India," Carney said at a news conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

Negotiators from India and Canada plan to hold a fifth round of talks from October 5, building on discussions that concluded last week, according to people familiar with the matter quoted by Bloomberg.

Modi is expected to sign a completed trade deal, the Globe and Mail reported, citing New Delhi’s envoy Dinesh Patnaik.

Carney said he and Modi had committed to try to conclude negotiations by the G20. The summit is scheduled for December 14-15 at Trump National Doral in Miami, United States, where President Donald Trump will host global leaders.

PM Modi may also visit the G20 summit, as per some media reports. The Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi has not confirmed any of PM Modi's upcoming visits to the US or Canada

Carney wants to double Canada's non-US trade over the next decade and has made India part of a broader effort to reduce the country's dependence on the United States as relations deteriorate under President Donald Trump, AP said.

Formal negotiations launched in March

Canada and India formally launched negotiations on a comprehensive trade agreement in March, with both governments committing to conclude talks by the end of 2026.

The reset in India-Canada ties follows a deep diplomatic rupture over the 2023 killing of Canadian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia. Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had said there were credible allegations linking agents of the Indian government to Nijjar's killing.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police later said it had evidence allegedly linking Indian government agents to homicides and other violent acts in Canada.

Carney has moved quickly to rebuild ties. His visit to India earlier this year was the first bilateral visit by a Canadian prime minister since 2018.

Mexico visit also on the cards

New Delhi is finalising a framework with Mexico to begin formal trade negotiations, the people said, asking not to be identified as the discussions are private, Bloomberg said. Officials are seeking to make faster progress in the trade talks as all three countries look to diversify their commercial ties, the report said.

Mexico’s Economy Ministry, which oversees the country’s trade negotiations, said there’s ongoing analysis for a potential deal although there’s no concrete or final proposal yet, Bloomberg said.

The three economies – India, Canada and Mexico – with combined economic output of more than $8 trillion, are grappling with disruption from Trump’s trade policies.

Mexico is scrambling to reach an agreement with the US as the two sides negotiate changes to their existing pact, while Canada-US talks collapsed last month. The US is by far the biggest export market for both Canada and Mexico.

We are making good progress in our trade negotiations with India.

India is contending with fresh tariff threats from a new law that gives Trump the power to impose levies of as much as 100% on countries that purchase Russian oil and gas.

New Delhi reached an interim trade deal with the US earlier this year and has been locked in negotiations over the tariff rate.