India-Canada CEPA Talks Speed Up: Fifth Round in Ottawa, Goal of About $70 Billion Trade in Five Years

A Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is a deal between two or more countries to remove or cut import taxes (tariffs) on most of the goods they trade with each other, while each keeps its own tariffs for outside countries. India calls its broader deals CEPA (Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement) or CECA (Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement). A CEPA usually goes beyond goods to cover services, investment, movement of professionals, digital trade and common rules. Under WTO rules (GATT Article XXIV for goods and GATS Article V for services), such deals are allowed as an exception to the "same treatment for all" principle, if they cover substantially all trade.

India and Canada are both democracies, members of the Commonwealth and the G20, and share deep people-to-people ties through one of the largest Indian diasporas in the world. Their relationship has seen long periods of friendship and sharp breakdowns. The two biggest strains came from the 1974 nuclear test and, much later, from disputes over Khalistani extremism in Canada. Since 2025, both countries have been rebuilding ties with a focus on trade, energy and education.