India’s finance minister visits Canada as both sides push to close a trade deal in 2026

India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is on a nine-day official visit to Canada and the United States (25 August to 2 September 2026). In Toronto on 26–27 August she co-chaired the first India–Canada Economic and Financial Dialogue with Canada's Finance Minister, François-Philippe Champagne. Both ministers reaffirmed the aim to conclude the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) — a free trade agreement — in 2026, and said they are also working toward a Foreign Investment Protection Agreement (FIPA) by year-end. They restated the goal of roughly doubling trade: two-way merchandise trade was about US$8 billion in 2025-26 (Indian exports US$4.67 billion, Indian imports US$3.28 billion), with a target near US$50 billion by 2030. Canada's finance minister called the two economies ‘uniquely complementary’ — Canada offering energy, food and critical minerals, and India offering scale, talent and technology.