Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is heading to India for what experts say is a \u201cvery significant trip\u201d as he tries to reset relations between the two countries and find new markets for Canadian exports.<\/p>\n
While the trip, which starts Friday, is expected to be heavy on diplomacy, experts question whether it will result in major economic deals to shore up Canada\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n
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Carney has pledged to broaden the country\u2019s trading partners as relations with its neighbour, the United States, fray. And India, with its 1.4 billion people, is a potentially large market for Canada\u2019s vast petroleum and natural gas reserves, among other products.<\/p>\n
But to build those economic bonds will require Carney to overcome diplomatic tensions and hesitancy about the costs of its exports, according to analysts.<\/p>\n
\u201cCanada domestically needs to figure out to what extent it wants to grow its oil and gas industry,\u201d said Tarun Khanna, professor at the University of British Columbia who focuses on energy policy.<\/p>\n
\u201cImprovement in the overall relationship can provide incentives to both nations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Repairing a diplomatic rupture<\/p>\n
Part of the hurdle for Carney is repairing recent diplomatic strains between his country and India.<\/p>\n
The two countries engaged in a prolonged diplomatic freeze in September 2023, after Carney\u2019s predecessor Justin Trudeau alleged that India was involved in the killing of a Sikh separatist activist on Canadian soil.<\/p>\n
India rejected the allegations as false, and both countries\u00a0expelled each other\u2019s diplomats.<\/p>\n
A breakthrough came last year when Carney invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Kananaskis, Alberta, to attend the Group of Seven (G7) leaders\u2019 summit in June.<\/p>\n
Since then, relations have thawed. In September, both sides named new diplomats to serve as high commissioners to each other\u2019s countries.<\/p>\n
In the lead-up to this week\u2019s meeting, more bilateral collaboration has unfolded. Officials from India and Canada have engaged in senior ministerial and working-level engagements in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), liquefied natural gas (LNG), critical minerals and supply chain resilience.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a very significant visit and allows Prime Minister Carney to consolidate a reset that began in the relationship last year,\u201d said Vina Nadjibulla, vice president at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, a research institute.<\/p>\n
Finding alternative trading partners<\/p>\n
But the rapprochement with India also comes in a transition period for Canada.<\/p>\n
The US has long been its primary trading partner: It is the only country it shares a border with. But since the return of President Donald Trump to the White House, the US has taken an aggressive stance towards trade with Canada.<\/p>\n
Trump has stacked steep tariffs on key Canadian exports like steel, aluminium and automobile parts. He also suggested he would like Canada to cede its sovereignty and become a state within the US.<\/p>\n
Carney has resisted such efforts, including by imposing counter-tariffs on US goods.<\/p>\n
But in January, he gave a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he outlined his vision for \u201cmiddle-power\u201d states to break from the superpowers that seek their \u201csubordination\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the fracture, we can build something bigger, better, stronger, more just,\u201d Carney said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the task of the middle powers: the countries that have the most to lose from a world of fortresses and the most to gain from genuine cooperation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carney\u2019s trip to India, followed by Australia and Japan, is his first major trip to Asia following his Davos speech. Experts say the outing will give him a stage on which to spread his appeal for \u201cgenuine cooperation\u201d among smaller economies.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt allows him to take that message of middle-power diplomacy to India, Australia and Japan, the three most significant for Canada in the Indo-Pacific region,\u201d said Nadjibulla.<\/p>\n
The trip also comes at a time when, on the domestic front, Carney\u2019s top priority is to strengthen economic resilience, make sure investments keep flowing into Canada, and protect industries that have been hit by Trump\u2019s tariffs.<\/p>\n