Canada–India CEPA Negotiations: Where Talks Stand in 2026
The Canada–India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) is a proposed bilateral trade agreement covering trade in goods and services, investment, rules of origin, intellectual property, and other areas of economic cooperation. After earlier negotiations stalled and trade talks were paused in 2023, Canada and India launched a new CEPA negotiation in November 2025. Formal negotiations began under new Terms of Reference in March 2026, with both governments seeking to conclude an agreement in 2026 and expand annual two-way trade to approximately US$50 billion, or C$70 billion, by 2030.
This page pairs that policy timeline with an interactive dashboard of Canada–India bilateral merchandise trade for 2023 — the last full year of trade data before the relationship’s reset. The trade figures throughout this dashboard reflect 2023; the policy narrative and sources below are updated as of July 2026 and should not be read as describing 2026 trade levels.
Canada and India originally began negotiating a comprehensive trade agreement in 2010, completing ten formal rounds by 2017 before talks stalled over market access. In 2022 the two governments shifted their immediate attention to a narrower Early Progress Trade Agreement (EPTA), but trade negotiations were paused altogether in September 2023 amid a broader diplomatic rupture. Political engagement began to recover after the June 2025 meeting between Prime Minister Mark Carney and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, where the leaders agreed to appoint new high commissioners and restore regular diplomatic and consular engagement. At the G20 Summit in November 2025 they formally announced the launch of a new CEPA negotiation; Terms of Reference were signed in New Delhi on March 2, 2026; a second formal round was held May 4–8, 2026; and a further round was scheduled for Ottawa in July 2026.
Canada–India CEPA Timeline: 2010–2026
- 2010–2017 Canada and India launch CEPA negotiations in 2010 and complete ten formal rounds, with the tenth round held in August 2017.
- 2022 – September 2023 The governments pursue an interim Early Progress Trade Agreement as a step toward a comprehensive CEPA. Trade negotiations are paused in September 2023 as bilateral diplomatic relations deteriorate.
- 2023–2025 Relations decline sharply following Canada’s allegation of a potential link between agents of the Government of India and the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Diplomatic representation and consular services are substantially reduced, followed by further reciprocal expulsions in October 2024.
- June 2025 PMs Carney and Modi meet at the G7 Summit in Kananaskis and agree to appoint new high commissioners and restore regular diplomatic engagement.
- November 2025 At the G20 Summit, the leaders formally announce the launch of negotiations for a new Canada–India CEPA, describing it as a “high-ambition” agreement aimed at doubling two-way trade by 2030.
- March 2026 Canada and India sign the CEPA Terms of Reference at Hyderabad House in New Delhi, formally launching negotiations under the new mandate.
- May 2026 The second negotiating round is held from May 4–8 at Vanijya Bhawan in New Delhi, covering goods, services, intellectual property, rules of origin, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and technical barriers to trade.
- July 2026 A further negotiating round is scheduled for Ottawa. Both governments have committed to seeking an agreement in 2026 and to increasing two-way trade to approximately US$50 billion — roughly C$70 billion — annually by 2030.
What Is Being Negotiated in the Canada–India CEPA?
Agriculture and government procurement are widely seen as the most sensitive areas of the talks, though neither government has stated that they are formally deferred. Canada’s published negotiating objectives are explicit that it will not concede new market access in its supply-managed dairy, poultry, and egg sectors, a position it has held firm on in other trade deals. India is similarly protective of its own agriculture sector on behalf of smallholder farmers. Intellectual property, by contrast, is already an active part of the talks — it was one of the chapters discussed in the May 2026 round, alongside goods, services, rules of origin, and sanitary/technical-barrier measures.
Country: Canada | Partner: India | Year: 2023 | Trade Flow: Exports + Imports | Source: WITS (World Bank)
Trade Data by Product (HS Classification): Select - 4 Groups or 16 Products
Bilateral Trade Between India and Canada
Products Traded
Import Composition
Export Composition
Exports vs Imports by Product Group
Trade Balance by Product Group
Canada–India Trade Data: Why the 2023 Pattern Matters
The 2023 trade pattern in this dashboard is a useful lens on where a deal could bite hardest — this is analytical inference, not an announced outcome of the talks. Canada’s largest deficits sit in categories India is pushing to expand — consumer goods (−$2.46B), capital goods and machinery & electronics (−$1.03B / −$758M), and textiles & clothing (−$720M) — sectors that also carry some of the highest current MFN tariffs (textiles & clothing at 6.8%, footwear at 9.4%). Canada’s surplus sectors — raw materials, fuels, wood, and minerals — line up with what Canada is asking India to liberalize. Tariff reductions in a comprehensive deal could widen Canada’s deficit in manufactured and consumer goods while reinforcing its resource-sector surplus, but tariffs are only one lever: sourcing shifts, investment, services trade, and input costs all respond to a deal in ways a static tariff table can’t capture.