Trade minister calls for expanded engagement with India

DAVOS – International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu called Wednesday for expanded trade with India, particularly in agriculture and energy products.

Sidhu — who was in Davos, Switzerland, at the World Economic Forum with Prime Minister Mark Carney — said formal trade negotiations on a new economic agreement with India are expected to start in February and that Canada is looking to take a pragmatic approach to improving strained bilateral ties.

Sidhu said he was in India in November to search for opportunities to boost trade and met with India’s energy minister.

Carney and members of his cabinet are wrapping up a nine-day globe-trotting trip to secure new investments for Canada.

Sidhu said India is “destined to be the third-largest economy in the world” and is the next major target in Carney’s push to diversify trade.

“India is requiring 70 per cent more energy by 2040. As you know, Canada has the energy. India’s year-over-year growth is about seven per cent, so they need food, they need energy. We have that,” Sidhu said in Davos. 

Diplomatic ties between Canada and India have been strained in recent years.

Former prime minister Justin Trudeau and the RCMP reported that Canada has evidence linking agents of the Indian government to the 2023 murder of Sikh separatist activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, and later to a campaign of violence and intimidation mainly targeting Sikhs in Canada.

Canada expelled India’s high commissioner and five other diplomats in October 2024 when India declined to waive diplomatic and consular immunity to allow the RCMP to interview the diplomats.

India responded by expelling Canada’s high commissioner.

Last spring, Carney moved to thaw the relationship when he invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the G7 summit in Alberta, where the two agreed to reappoint high commissioners. The new diplomats were named in August.

When the two leaders met at the G20 in South Africa in November they agreed to launch talks toward a new trade deal.

“The prime minister has been clear. We want to see the world as it is, not as we wish it to be,” Sidhu said when asked why Canada is deepening ties with India now.

“You will have many different conversations, many pathways on public safety, on law enforcement dialogue. It’s the same thing with China. There are certain things that we align with and there are certain things that we don’t align with. But at the end of the day, we need to find opportunities for Canadians and that’s our government’s pragmatic approach.”

Sidhu said Canada is also working on trade agreements with Thailand, Philippines, the Association of South East Asian Nations and Mercosur — a trading bloc of South American nations that includes Brazil.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said earlier this month that Carney accepted an invitation to come to Brazil in April to discuss trade. The Prime Minister’s Office has not confirmed that trip.

The Prime Minister’s Office said in the fall Carney accepted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation to visit India early this year, and India’s High Commissioner to Canada, Dinesh Patnaik, said recently the trip will take place in the coming weeks.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Jan. 21, 2026.