OTTAWA \u2014 Canada\u2019s international trade minister says the government is looking to sign three major trade deals before the end of the year \u2014 with Mercosur, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and India.<\/p>\n
Speaking with The Canadian Press this week, International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu said Ottawa has teams of negotiators in different parts of the world almost every week.<\/p>\n
He said a team was in Brazil this past week for negotiations on a free-trade agreement with Mercosur, a South American trade bloc made up of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.<\/p>\n
He said he hopes to see that agreement and deals with both India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations \u2014 the 11-state group better known as ASEAN \u2014 concluded this year.<\/p>\n
A readout from the Prime Minister\u2019s Office said Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke with Argentina\u2019s President Javier Milei on Friday and the leaders welcomed progress on trade talks.<\/p>\n
The readout said Carney underscored Canada\u2019s role as a leading investor in Argentina\u2019s mining sector and opportunities to further expand the partnership across trade, critical minerals, energy and investment.<\/p>\n
The Liberals have set out to double non-U.S. exports over the next decade. The government\u2019s spring economic update said non-U.S. goods and services exports increased by $33 billion in 2025 compared to 2024, something Sidhu called \u201cvery promising.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carney\u2019s government has also boasted about signing 20 strategic trade and defence agreements around the world over the past year.<\/p>\n
Carney has travelled to 25 countries during 17 international trips since March 2025.<\/p>\n
Those high-profile trips have included stops in China and India, two countries that have had strained relations with Canada in recent years.<\/p>\n
Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal is bringing \u201cone of the largest delegations\u201d to Canada at the end of May, Sidhu said. He said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi won\u2019t be travelling with the delegation.<\/p>\n
The minister said the visit is following up on Canada\u2019s recent trade mission to India.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow they want to come to Canada to explore those opportunities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Asked if he thinks a deal could be signed with India next month, Sidhu said, \u201cWe\u2019re negotiating as fast as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to take some time,\u201d he said. \u201cWe just honestly started negotiating and with a country is as big as India, I\u2019m ambitious about the negotiations but the timelines that you mentioned, I think it\u2019s more about exploring opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sidhu said Indian companies are interested in investing in Canadian energy and mining projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndia is looking for more energy. In fact, they need 70 per cent more energy by 2040 and we have that capacity,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s real appetite there, especially with what\u2019s happening in the Middle East, and I think that we can fill that appetite.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndia needs more uranium. They need more potash \u2026 There is a mutual benefit, complementary industries that we\u2019re considering and so that\u2019s part of the conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n
India recently signed trade deals with the European Union, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Sidhu said he wants to ensure Canadian businesses stay competitive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t miss this opportunity and we need to make sure that our businesses have just as (much) preferential access as some of our like-minded countries,\u201d he said. \u201cTo remain competitive, we must continue exploring a (free trade agreement) with India. We must continue having these delegations go back and forth to really grow upon our trade.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sidhu said the goal is to get the best terms for Canadians, not to sign deals \u201cfor the sake of signing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want to make sure that we get real wins here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 2, 2026. <\/p>\n
\u2014With files from Sarah Ritchie<\/p>\n
Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OTTAWA \u2014 Canada\u2019s international trade minister says the government is looking to sign three major trade deals before…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[525,17,235,290,113,401],"class_list":{"0":"post-29170","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-economy","11":"tag-national","12":"tag-politics","13":"tag-trade"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}