India, Canada aim to conclude CEPA trade pact by end-2026: MEA
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has indicated that India and Canada are working to conclude negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) by the end of 2026.
Formal CEPA negotiations were relaunched in late 2025 after a period of strained bilateral relations had paused earlier talks; three rounds of negotiations have since been held, most recently in Ottawa.
Talks cover trade in goods, services, intellectual property, rules of origin, sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, technical barriers to trade, and cooperation in critical minerals and clean technology.
A bilateral visit between the two countries is planned later in the year as part of efforts to advance the broader relationship alongside the trade talks.
The agreement targets more than doubling bilateral trade to USD 50 billion by 2030, from about USD 8.66 billion in 2024-25.
CEPA vs FTA vs Treaty
A Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) is a wide-ranging trade agreement covering not just tariff reduction on goods but also trade in services, investment, intellectual property rights, and regulatory cooperation — broader in scope than a standard Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which typically focuses mainly on goods tariffs. Neither a CEPA nor an FTA is a "treaty" in the constitutional sense requiring Parliamentary ratification in India; they are negotiated and concluded by the Executive under Article 73 read with the Union's treaty-making power, and are approved via the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) and Union Cabinet.
Key Details
- India follows a dualist approach to international agreements: agreements do not automatically become domestic law and may require separate implementing legislation or notifications (e.g., customs tariff notifications) to take domestic effect.
- A Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) is functionally similar to a CEPA; India uses the terms depending on the partner country's preference (e.g., CECA with Australia's ongoing upgrade, CEPA with UAE and Canada).
- Joint Statements and MoUs, by contrast, are typically non-binding political or administrative commitments without the legal obligations of a trade agreement.
The India-Canada CEPA, once concluded, would be a legally binding trade agreement requiring Cabinet approval and implementing notifications, distinct from the political-level Joint Statements that relaunched the negotiations in 2025.
Comparison with India's Recent Bilateral Trade Agreements
India has pursued a series of bilateral CEPAs/ECTAs in recent years as part of a broader trade-diversification strategy. The India-UAE CEPA was signed on 18 February 2022 and entered into force on 1 May 2022, offering immediate zero-duty access on about 90% of India's exports by value to the UAE. The India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) came into force on 29 December 2022, covering roughly 98.3% of tariff lines and about 96.4% of India's export value to Australia.
Key Details
- Neither the India-UAE CEPA nor the India-Australia ECTA includes a dedicated investment protection chapter.
- Sensitive sectors such as dairy, certain meats, and select fruits/vegetables have generally been excluded from India's tariff commitments in both agreements.
- India and Australia are separately negotiating an upgrade from ECTA to a full Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA).
The India-Canada CEPA follows this template of sequential bilateral agreements (UAE, Australia, now Canada) rather than participation in mega-regional blocs, reflecting India's preference for tailored bilateral deals over broader plurilateral trade pacts.
India-Canada Bilateral Economic Ties
India and Canada are members of the Commonwealth and the G20, with a long-standing relationship spanning trade, education, and a large Indian-origin diaspora in Canada. Bilateral trade talks (originally as a CEPA effort, and earlier explored as an Early Progress Trade Agreement) had been under discussion for over a decade before formal relaunch.
Key Details
- Bilateral trade between India and Canada stood at about USD 8.66 billion in 2024-25 (USD 4.22 billion in exports, USD 4.44 billion in imports).
- Key areas of cooperation identified in the current round of talks include critical minerals and clean technology, alongside traditional goods and services trade.
- Trade negotiations had been paused for a period amid strained diplomatic relations before being relaunched following a diplomatic reset.
The renewed CEPA push situates trade diplomacy as a channel for normalising and deepening the broader India-Canada relationship, with critical minerals cooperation relevant to India's clean-energy and battery-supply-chain goals.
- India-Canada bilateral trade: approximately USD 8.66 billion in 2024-25.
- Target: bilateral trade of USD 50 billion by 2030.
- Three rounds of CEPA negotiations have been completed as of mid-2026; talks aim to conclude by end-2026.
- India-UAE CEPA: signed 18 February 2022, in force 1 May 2022.
- India-Australia ECTA: in force 29 December 2022.