Canada optimistic about concluding trade talks with India by year-end, minister says
Canada's Minister of International Trade visited India in mid-September 2026 and expressed confidence that negotiations for a Canada-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) would conclude by the end of 2026.
The two sides discussed deepening cooperation in the energy sector, including Indian firms' interest in accessing and investing in Canadian liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects to secure long-term supply.
Discussions also covered expanding civil nuclear energy cooperation, building on Canada's established role as a uranium supplier as India scales up its nuclear power capacity.
Indian companies are exploring investment in Canadian critical mineral projects as part of efforts to diversify and secure supply chains for materials used in clean energy and electronics manufacturing.
The visit followed the third round of CEPA negotiations held in Ottawa in July 2026, part of a broader normalisation of bilateral trade and investment ties.
CEPA as a Trade Agreement Category
A Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) is a deeper form of trade agreement than a standard Free Trade Agreement (FTA), typically covering goods, services, investment, and regulatory cooperation together, in contrast to a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA), which only grants tariff concessions on a limited list of products.
Key Details
- India's CEPA with the United Arab Emirates, signed on 18 February 2022 and effective from 1 May 2022, is a template for this agreement type — it was negotiated in about 88 days and covers roughly 11,908 Indian tariff lines and 7,581 UAE tariff lines, along with 11 service sectors and a dedicated digital trade chapter.
- The India-UAE CEPA aimed to raise bilateral goods trade beyond USD 100 billion and services trade beyond USD 15 billion within five years, illustrating the ambition typically attached to CEPA-type deals.
- Unlike an FTA focused narrowly on tariff elimination, a CEPA generally also addresses trade facilitation, intellectual property, technical barriers to trade, and movement of professionals.
The India-Canada CEPA under negotiation follows this same comprehensive template — covering goods, services, energy, and critical minerals together — rather than a narrower tariffs-only arrangement, which is why talks span sectors as varied as LNG and uranium alongside conventional trade in goods.
India-Canada Civil Nuclear Cooperation
Civil nuclear cooperation between India and Canada has a long and consequential history, moving from foundational partnership to a decades-long rupture and now to renewed engagement anchored in commercial uranium-supply agreements.
Key Details
- Canada helped build India's CIRUS research reactor under a 1956 cooperation agreement; plutonium produced using this reactor was used in India's 1974 "peaceful nuclear explosion" at Pokhran, after which Canada suspended nuclear cooperation with India for decades.
- Cooperation resumed only after India secured a specific waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers Group in 2008, allowing it to engage in civil nuclear trade despite being outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
- In early 2026, India and Canada concluded a long-term uranium supply agreement valued at roughly USD 2.6 billion, under which a Canadian supplier will provide uranium ore concentrate to India over 2027-2035, addressing a fuel-security gap since India's domestic uranium reserves can meet only a limited share of its projected nuclear power demand.
The CEPA talks' focus on "expanding" nuclear cooperation builds directly on this 2026 uranium deal, aiming to formalise deeper supply-chain and technology linkages (including areas like small modular reactors) within a broader trade framework.
Critical Minerals and Supply Chain Diversification
Critical minerals are raw materials essential for clean energy, electronics, and defence technologies where supply is concentrated in a few countries, creating strategic vulnerability for import-dependent economies like India.
Indian firms exploring investment in Canadian critical mineral projects directly advances the National Critical Mineral Mission's goal of securing overseas mineral supply chains, and a concluded CEPA could provide the investment-protection and market-access framework to support such deals.
- Canada's Trade Minister visited India (Mumbai) around 18-19 September 2026 to advance CEPA talks.
- Third round of India-Canada CEPA negotiations: held in Ottawa, 6-10 July 2026; both sides targeted concluding talks by end of 2026.
- India-UAE CEPA (comparator agreement): signed 18 February 2022, in force from 1 May 2022, negotiated in about 88 days.
- India-Canada uranium supply agreement: approximately USD 2.6 billion, concluded in early 2026, covering supply for 2027-2035.
- India's National Critical Mineral Mission: launched January 2025, ~Rs. 16,300 crore outlay, FY2024-25 to FY2030-31; 30 minerals officially designated "critical" in 2023.
- Nuclear Suppliers Group waiver enabling India's civil nuclear trade resumption: granted in 2008.