Jakarta, Indonesia –
Nearly a week after it was revealed Canada had paused trade talks with India, Canada’s international trade minister says Ottawa is “taking stock” of where things are at.
“Trade agreements are complex and there are many things that go into that,” International Trade Minister Mary Ng told reporters in Indonesia. “All we are doing at this point is taking a reflection to take stock of where we are.”
The trade minister’s comments come less than a week after India’s envoy to Canada revealed Ottawa had asked for a pause “within the last month.”
“The Canadian side has requested that, let’s take a pause … and then we’ll restart,” Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma told The Canadian Press last week.
So far, government officials have offered few details about why the talks have stalled and what prompted the pause in the first place.
But Goldy Hyder, the CEO of the Canada Business Council, says it’s important Canada get back to the table, whatever the reason.
“I think games are afoot on both sides,” he said while in Indonesia for meetings related to the ASEAN summit. “It’s important they get back to the table and do so soon because businesses have options … if not India, there’s a lot of other countries.”
Canada and India first launched talks for a comprehensive trade deal in 2010, but those plans were abandoned in 2017. Since 2022, the two countries have instead been engaged in talks about a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement that would be restricted to certain industries.
Hyder said he believes the pause is a chance for the government to ask questions about the content of a potential agreement, to look at the areas where consensus can be found and where Canada is likely “overreaching.”
“There are places where we have to remember it is an early progress trade agreement,” Hyder said. “I call it dating – we’re not agreeing to even live together, never mind getting engaged or married. We’re just agreeing to date. Surely we can figure out what the rules are when we’re dating and if we can’t do that, then I think it reflects poorly on both sides.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be in New Delhi, India, starting on Friday for the G20 summit. So far it’s unclear whether Trudeau and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have a bilateral meeting on the schedule.