New Delhi, May 28 (IANS) Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s visit to Canada, which concluded on Thursday, marks the first real commercial test of the India-Canada reset that began during Prime Minister Mark Carney’s March 2026 visit to India, with the two countries trying to move the relationship back toward a more structured economic footing, according to an article in India Narrative.
Goyal met Prime Minister Carney, International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu, Foreign Minister Anita Anand and Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald, while also engaging investors, business associations and corporate leaders.
The proposed comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) was at the centre of the visit, with both governments reiterating their intention to conclude the agreement by the end of the year, the article by former Indian diplomat Sanjay Kumar Verma points out.
The scale of the accompanying Indian business delegation was itself significant. Indian officials described it as the largest-ever Indian commercial delegation to Canada, with participation from more than 100 companies across sectors ranging from energy and mining to pharmaceuticals, artificial intelligence, textiles and agriculture.
What makes the current moment different is the broader international economic climate in which this engagement is taking place. Both India and Canada are operating in a world where supply chains are being reorganised, economic security concerns are rising, and countries are seeking more dependable trade and investment partners.
The two countries possess complementarities that are difficult to ignore. Canada brings capital, resources, technology and energy capacity. India brings scale, manufacturing ambition, market growth and talent.
There is also a geopolitical dimension that quietly strengthens the logic of closer economic engagement. Middle powers across the world are increasingly trying to diversify their strategic and commercial partnerships amid growing uncertainty in the global order.
India’s rise as a major economic actor and Canada’s search for more resilient Indo-Pacific engagement create an opening that did not exist in quite the same way a decade ago, according to Verma, who is a former Indian ambassador to Canada.
He points out that the real importance of the visit lies less in symbolism and more in whether this renewed engagement can avoid the fate of earlier negotiations. India and Canada first launched the CEPA negotiations in 2010. The talks continued for years but never reached conclusion.
Trade negotiations often lose momentum when their scope expands faster than political or administrative capacity. India and Canada learned that lesson the hard way, the article observes.
That experience also explains why the distinction between CEPA and the proposed Early Progress Trade Agreement (EPTA) became important. EPTA was conceived as a narrower, early-harvest arrangement that could deliver quicker gains in commercially ready sectors while leaving more contentious issues for later negotiations. But even that process stalled in 2023 amid the sharp diplomatic tensions that followed allegations made by Ottawa regarding the killing of a Canada-based Khalistani extremist designated as a terrorist by India, the article states.
That history should temper expectations. Political resets are relatively easy to announce. Durable trade agreements are much harder to negotiate. At the same time, the current moment does offer a more realistic basis for progress than earlier attempts.
Both sides now appear more conscious of the costs of overloading negotiations with too many objectives at once. There also seems to be greater recognition that a commercially meaningful agreement, even if limited in scope initially, would be preferable to another sprawling framework that never reaches implementation, the article further states.
“That is really the core issue. India does not necessarily need a perfect CEPA with Canada. It needs a workable one,” the article opines.
It also observes that the India-Canada relationship remains vulnerable to diplomatic friction, market-access disputes and security concerns. India’s long-standing concerns over a small fringe of Canada-based Khalistani extremists continue to cast a shadow over the relationship. Agricultural sensitivities and tariff disputes have also complicated trade discussions in the past.
But allowing every political disagreement to freeze economic engagement would be a strategic mistake for both countries. Mature relationships compartmentalise when necessary. Trade diplomacy rarely moves in straight lines, the former ambassador points out.
--IANS
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