Photo credit: AP
Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney is expected to visit India in the first week of March, India’s high commissioner to Canada, Dinesh Patnaik, told Reuters in an interview. During the trip, the Canadian PM is set to sign key deals on uranium, energy, minerals, artificial intelligence, education, and culture. “I have a feeling in the first week of March is what we are looking at,” Patnaik said.Canada’s energy minister Tim Hodgson, who is visiting India this week, said the timing of Carney’s trip is still being finalized.
“There are plans for the Prime Minister to visit at some point this year. It will depend on the progress we make,” Hodgson was quoted by Reuters as saying.According to Reuters, Carney is seeking to diversify Canada’s alliances beyond the United States. At the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, he earned a rare standing ovation for declaring that “the old rules-based order is over” and urging middle powers like Canada to “build coalitions to shape a fairer, more resilient world.”Canadian PM’s recent visit to ChinaCarney also recently visited Beijing on January 16, marking the first visit by a Canadian Prime Minister to China since 2017. In the Chinese capital, he met President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang, and Zhao Leji, Chairman of the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress.Following the meetings, Carney and Xi released a joint statement outlining pillars of a new Canada-China strategic partnership. The agreement includes preliminary measures to remove trade barriers and reduce tariffs on Canadian agri-food products, including canola, lobsters, crabs, and peas. By March 1, tariffs on Canadian canola seed are expected to fall to about 15% from current combined rates of roughly 85%.However, on Sunday, Carney told reporters that Canada has no plans to pursue a free trade deal with China, responding to US President Donald Trump’s threat of 100% tariffs on Canadian goods if a trade deal with Beijing went ahead. “We have no intention of doing that with China or any other non-market economy,” he said. “What we have done with China is to rectify some issues that developed in the last couple of years”, The Guardian reported.He is also working to reset relations with India following former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s 2023 accusation that the Indian government was involved in the killing of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, which India has denied. Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the G7 summit last year at Carney’s invitation, and several of Carney’s ministers have visited India since.CEPA negotiations, energy and minerals dealsFormal negotiations for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with India are expected to start in March, following the restart of stalled trade talks in November.Carney will also sign agreements with the Indian government on nuclear energy, oil and gas, the environment, AI and quantum computing, as well as education and culture. A 10-year C$2.8 billion uranium supply deal is likely to be included.According to Reuters, Hodgson did not confirm the uranium deal but noted, “Canada is happy to sell uranium under the Canada-India nuclear cooperation agreement as long as India is prepared to abide by International Energy Agency safeguards. We know that India is a major nuclear country and it has major plans to grow its civilian use of nuclear energy. So that would be one of the topics I expect that we will discuss with my counterpart”.Between Hodgson’s visit and Carney’s, both countries are expected to announce agreements on energy and mining, including critical minerals, crude oil, and LNG transactions. “We need to focus on economies that are large and growing. India squarely falls into that category. India is a growing user of critical minerals that Canada can supply,” Hodgson said.Sense of urgencyBoth nations are moving with urgency after two years of stalled talks. Patnaik referred to Carney’s Davos speech, saying, “Now we are living in a world where the natural rules-based order which gave a certainty to the world is not functioning. (We) should work together to have an agreement that protects us from the vagaries of the international order.”The push comes amid US President Donald Trump’s recent threat of 100% tariffs on Canada if it signed a deal with China. Carney responded that Canada “respects its commitments under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement to not pursue free trade agreements with non-market economies.”India is also seeking new trade agreements. Talks with the EU are expected to conclude this week, and a CEPA pact with Canada could be signed within a year. India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman are likely to visit Canada soon.Patnaik added that a court case is ongoing in Canada on four people accused of Nijjar’s murder. “If evidence comes out that there were Indians involved, India will take action,” he said. India’s National Security Advisor will visit Ottawa next month as part of regular engagements to exchange intelligence and discuss security measures.Bilateral ties on the riseCarney, Canada’s 24th prime minister, was elected leader of the Liberal Party and sworn in as prime minister in March 2025. He met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the margins of the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg, where both leaders welcomed “the positive momentum in bilateral relations since their last meeting in June at the G7 Summit in Kananaskis” and the new roadmap for bilateral engagement announced by foreign ministers in October. Following the 7th Ministerial Dialogue on Trade and Investment in New Delhi on November 13, 2025, the leaders agreed to formally launch CEPA negotiations covering goods, services, investment, agriculture and agri-food, digital trade, mobility, and sustainable development. They expressed confidence that the CEPA will “serve as a powerful economic anchor and help more than double two-way trade to $70 billion by 2030.“The prime ministers also agreed to enhance diplomatic staffing levels, strengthen people-to-people linkages, and continue high-level visits by ministers and business delegations. Carney accepted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation to visit India in early 2026.
