Canada calls for ‘pause’ on trade treaty talks with India in surprise move
Global News
Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma said Ottawa sought a pause "within the last month" to ongoing talks for an Early Progress Trade Agreement.
India’s envoy to Canada says Ottawa has tapped the brakes on trade negotiations, just before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau heads to New Delhi.
Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma said Ottawa sought a pause “within the last month” to ongoing talks for an Early Progress Trade Agreement.
“The Canadian side has requested that, let’s take a pause … and then we’ll restart,” Verma said, in a wide-ranging interview ahead of next week’s G20 summit in New Delhi.
“There is an honest request from the Canadian side, and we have no reason not to accept it.”
A Canadian government official told Reuters that Canada was asking for the pause “to take stock of where we are.” The official, who spoke on the condition he not be identified, declined to give more details.
Since March 2022, the two countries have been negotiating a deal that would be restricted to certain industries, instead of spanning the entire economy.
The talks follow a five-year hiatus. Both countries had entered negotiations in 2010 for a comprehensive deal, but they abandoned the plans in 2017.
Verma said there has been an intense pace of negotiations, which he says reflects the earnestness of both nations wanting closer economic ties.
