PM Carney to travel to India, Australia and Japan to diversify Canada trade away from US

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is traveling to India, Australia and Japan this week and next in his latest effort to diversify trade away from the United States, his office announced Monday. Carney will first visit Mumbai on Thursday for talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and business leaders. During a stop in Canberra, Carney will address both houses of Australia's Parliament, making him the first Canadian prime minister to do so in 20 years. He also will meet with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to discuss defense and AI advancements. Carney will then head to Tokyo to meet with Japan's Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae to discuss clean energy, critical minerals and food security. “In a more uncertain world, Canada is focused on what we can control. We are diversifying our trade and attracting massive new investment," Carney said in a statement. Carney has set a goal for Canada to double its non-US exports in the next decade, saying American tariffs are causing a chill in investment. US President Donald Trump has been threatening Canada's economy and sovereignty with tariffs, most offensively by claiming Canada could be “the 51st state.” Trump recently threatened to impose a 100 per cent tariff on goods imported from Canada over that country's proposed China trade deal, intensifying a feud with the longtime US ally and Carney.

In Davos at the World Economic Forum last month, Carney condemned economic coercion by great powers on smaller countries. The prime minister received widespread praise and attention for his remarks, upstaging Trump at the gathering. Canada and India moved last year to advance a trade deal after two years of strained relations. In 2024, India was Canada's seventh-largest trading partner. Relations between Canada and India have been strained since Canadian police accused New Delhi of playing a role in the June 2023 assassination of a Canadian Sikh activist near Vancouver. Canada is not the only country that has accused Indian officials of plotting an assassination on foreign soil. In 2023, US prosecutors said an Indian government official directed a failed plot to assassinate another Sikh separatist leader in New York. A man from India admitted earlier this month that he conspired to hire a hitman to assassinate the Sikh separatist leader.