|
Prime Minister Carney to travel to India,
Australia and Japan to diversify Canada trade away from US
[February 24, 2026]
By ROB GILLIES
TORONTO
(AP) — 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. |
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, and India's Prime Minister
Narendra Modi reach to shake hands at the G7 Summit in Kananaskis,
Alberta, June 17, 2025. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP, File) |
|
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-U.S. exports
in the next decade, saying American tariffs are causing a chill
in investment.
U.S. 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% tariff on goods
imported from Canada over that country’s proposed China trade
deal, intensifying a feud with the longtime U.S. 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, U.S. 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.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved
|
|
|
