Politics
India’s new envoy wants full-scale trade deal with Canada as relations thaw – National TenX News
India’s new envoy to Canada says Ottawa should pivot away from pursuing a scaled-down trade deal and instead reach for a comprehensive trade and investment agreement with the world’s most populous country.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Canadian Press, Indian High Commissioner Dinesh Patnaik also said Canadian businesses should expand trade and investment ties with India now, without waiting for governments to sign a formal trade agreement.
“We are more interested in a comprehensive package than something with low ambition. We want a higher ambition,” he said in a Thursday interview.
“A trade deal is something we should not wait for. We should start getting whatever we can, the early gains.”
Canada and India have been in trade talks since 2010. Those negotiations were paused and restarted more than once, and were shut down entirely by Ottawa in 2023, after the federal government accused New Delhi of playing a role in the assassination of a Canadian Sikh activist in Surrey, B.C.
The Carney government has made it a priority to reset relations with India, including a visit earlier this month by Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand to India where both countries released a joint statement titled “renewing momentum towards a stronger partnership.” The statement mentioned trade multiple times.
The statement was a major shift in tone from a year prior, when Canada expelled six senior Indian diplomats after the RCMP alleged New Delhi was behind wide-scale murder, extortion and coercion in Canada. In autumn 2023, India stripped diplomatic protection for most Canadian envoys.
Patnaik said despite the “slight hiccups” in the diplomatic relationship in recent years, “trade hasn’t slowed down.”
“But to look at it the other way, trade has never reached the heights as (it) should have been, between a G7 country and the fourth largest economy in the world,” he added.
Before the diplomatic chill began in 2023, Canada and India had already scaled down their ambitions for trade talks from seeking a comprehensive economywide agreement to pursuing a deal limited to specific industries.
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The trade talks that launched in 2010 involved a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, but by 2023, negotiations were intensifying toward an Early Progress Trade Agreement, which might have held on its own or led to a later, comprehensive deal. Neither country formally declared which sectors were on the table.
India has signed both types of deal with different countries. For example, Australia signed such a limited deal in 2022 that included sectors such as coal, lentils and rare earths, with talk of possibly launching talks for a broader agreement.
Patnaik said India wants to “interact in every sector” with Canada through an agreement that goes beyond trade in specific goods, such as Canadian lentils and Indian textiles.
He said a trade pact would yield huge economic benefits if it included service sectors such as education and cultural fields such as filmmaking.
“It is time for us to look at things in a different perspective,” he said.
“I don’t want to reduce trade to only buying and selling, but to this larger economic framework where we have investments, where we have human resource collaborations, scientific research, innovation, high technology — everything.”
Both Canada and India are working to diversify their trade away from an increasingly erratic United States. U.S. President Donald Trump hit Canada with tariffs he linked to the minuscule flow of fentanyl across the border, and imposed 50 per cent tariffs on Indian products to pressure New Delhi to stop buying Russian oil.
But Canada was falling behind peer countries on trade with India even before Trump returned to the White House, Patnaik said.
He pointed out that since trade talks with Ottawa began in 2010, New Delhi has signed deals with the U.K., Australia and the United Arab Emirates and is “on the verge of signing one” with the European Union.
“If, probably, the trade talks with Canada would not have been paused, we probably would have had a trade agreement with Canada,” he said.
“We are moving forward with the rest of the world, and we do not want to have a lesser ambition with Canada.”
India has long been viewed by trade analysts as a protectionist country, with strict control over imports and the scope of foreign companies, along with a focus on domestic manufacturing. The country has a trade surplus with many western nations, partly because of a boom in outsourced call centres and IT systems.
The country also imposes conditions on trade that have made it challenging for foreign firms — such as the fumigation rules it imposed on Canadian peas and lentils in 2017.
The briefing binder Canada’s foreign service prepared for Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu when he took on the job this spring cited both the benefits and pitfalls involved in pursuing more trade with India.
“India offers significant opportunities over the medium term, despite it being a challenging market for exporters,” says the May briefing book.
In that document, Global Affairs Canada accuses India of putting pressure on the global trading order upon which Canada relies, particularly the rules outlined by the World Trade Organization.
“Negotiations of major interest such as agriculture have long been stalemated. A handful of obstructive members, led by India, routinely block outcomes negotiated and desired by most members,” the binder says about the WTO.
Patnaik said India “will do whatever is necessary to increase trade” with Canada.
“If we can just change laws and work sector by sector, we might as well do that,” he said.
Patnaik also suggested India wants to move past trade conflicts over issues such as fumigation and pesticides.
“Trade is basically opening up, not putting barriers. No non-tariff barriers, no sanitary phytosanitary issues,” he said.
He also presented his country as a pluralistic democracy that shares values and extensive diaspora ties with Canada.
The American non-profit Freedom House gives India a score of 63 per cent for freedoms, citing concerns about discriminatory policies, religious persecution and harassment of civil society groups under Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It also says the country is a genuine multiparty democracy with free and fair elections.
“We are two democracies with complementary economies, open societies, diversity, pluralism, democracy, rule of law, freedom of press — everything that binds us together. And so we should be much more closer,” Patnaik said.
“Let’s find ways of having an interaction which is much more intense, much more strategic, much more closer than what we have at present.”
The possibility of a forceful U.S. takeover of Greenland is raising many unprecedented questions — including how Canada, the European Union and NATO could respond or even retaliate against an ostensible ally.
A high-level meeting between Greenlandic, Danish and U.S. officials this week did not resolve the “fundamental disagreement” over the territory’s sovereignty but did set the stage for more talks. The White House made clear Thursday that U.S. President Donald Trump’s desire to control Greenland has not changed after the meeting.
“He wants the United States to acquire Greenland. He thinks it’s in our best national security to do that,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Denmark and European allies are sending more troops to the territory in a show of force and to display a commitment to Arctic security.
Experts say there are other, non-military measures available in the event of a U.S. annexation or invasion of Greenland, or which could at least be threatened to try and get Trump to back down.
Whether those economic measures are actually used is another matter, those experts say.
“I think it remains highly unlikely that we’ll get to that point where we have to seriously discuss consequences for a U.S. move on Greenland,” said Otto Svendsen, an associate fellow with the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“So it remains contingency planning for a highly unlikely event. That being said … Denmark would certainly do everything in its power to rally a very robust European response.”
Here’s what that could entail.
EU trade, tech disruptions?
Experts agree the biggest pressure points that can be used in the U.S. surround trade and technology.
The European Parliament’s trade committee is currently debating whether to postpone implementing the trade deal signed between Trump and the EU last summer to protest the threats against Greenland, Reuters reported Wednesday.
Many lawmakers have complained that the deal is lopsided, with the EU required to cut most import duties while the U.S. sticks to a broad 15 per cent tariff for European goods.
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An even bolder move would be triggering the EU’s anti-coercion instrument — known as the “trade bazooka” — that would allow the bloc to hit non-member nations with tariffs, trade restrictions, foreign investment bans, and other penalties if that country is found to be using coercive economic measures.
Although the regulation defines coercion as “measures affecting trade and investment,” Svendsen said it could feasibly be used in a diplomatic or territorial dispute as well.
“EU lawyers have proven themselves to be very creative in recent years,” he said.
However, David Perry, president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, said in an email that economic measures against the U.S. are unlikely “given the massive asymmetry in the defence and economic relationship between the U.S.” and other western nations.
“Any kind of sanction against the U.S. doesn’t make sense for the same reason they can impose tariffs on others: they have the power,” Perry added.
Target U.S. tech companies?
The likeliest — and potentially least harmful — scenario for retaliation in the event of an attack on Greenland, Svendsen said, would be fines or bans against U.S. tech companies like Google, Meta and X operating in Europe.
That’s because the Trump administration has taken particular focus on preventing what they call “attacks” on American companies by foreign governments seeking to regulate their online content or tax their revenues, which has led to calls on Canada, Britain and the EU to repeal laws like digital services taxes.
“I think that would be a really smart and targeted way to get to economic interests very close to the president, while minimizing the direct impact on the on the European economy,” Svendsen said, calling such a move “low-hanging fruit.”
He also compared a future U.S. tech platform ban to how Europe moved to wean itself off Russian gas after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“If you told anyone back then that Europe would basically rid itself of its dependence on Russian gas basically within a two-year period … that would have been considered completely impossible,” he said.
“Weaning the European economy off of U.S. tech would certainly be painful in the short term, but they’ve proven that they can get off those dependencies quickly if there is political will behind it in the past.”
A U.S. hostile takeover of Greenland would mean the “end” of the NATO alliance, experts and European leaders have said.
Trump himself has acknowledged it could be a “choice” between preserving the alliance or acquiring Greenland.
There is no provision within the NATO founding treaty that addresses the possibility of a NATO member taking territory from another, and how the alliance should respond to such an act.
A NATO spokesperson told Global News it wouldn’t “speculate on hypothetical scenarios” when asked how it could potentially act.
“None of this would be actionable in a NATO sense,” Perry said. “It’s an alliance that’s organized to bind the U.S. to European security, and revolves around the U.S. So there’s no scenario of NATO doing that to the U.S.”
Denmark and other European nations could move to reduce or close U.S. military bases in their countries as a possible response, experts say.
Balkan Devlen, a a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and director of its Transatlantic Program, said in an interview that a U.S. annexation of Greenland would force Canada to focus entirely on boosting its defences in the Arctic.
That may include trying to decouple from NORAD, the joint northern defence network with the U.S., in favour of a purely domestic Arctic command, he said — although that process would take years and require Canada to increase defence spending even further.
“Never mind five per cent (of GDP) — we will probably need to go like seven, eight, nine per cent on defence spending to be able to do anything of that sort,” he said. “It’s not even clear that we’ll be able to have enough people to do that.”
Devlen added that any retaliatory action, whether military or financial, needs to be targeted and proportionate to what the U.S. does.
“The problem with nuclear options is that once you use it, it’s gone,” he said. “And if it doesn’t do the damage or make the change of behaviour on the other party, you’ve basically lost a lot of leverage and you might actually sustain a lot more loss yourself.”
A trip to the world’s most-visited museum is about to cost Canadians significantly more.
France has hiked ticket prices at the Louvre by 45 per cent for visitors from outside the European Union, a move that is fuelling debate over so-called dual pricing and the growing backlash against overtourism.
Starting this week, adult visitors from non-EU countries, including Canada, must pay €32 to enter the Paris landmark, up from €22. That’s an increase from about $35 to $52 Canadian.
Visitors from EU countries, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, will continue to pay the lower rate.
The price hike comes as the Louvre grapples with repeated labour strikes, a high-profile daylight jewel heist last October that prompted a costly security overhaul, and years of chronic overcrowding. The museum attracts roughly nine million visitors annually.
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Some Canadian tourists told Global News they feel unfairly targeted.
“We didn’t cause the robberies or some of the other issues that happened and we are paying the consequences,” said Allison Moore, visiting Paris from Newfoundland with her daughter. “[In] Canada we don’t discriminate over pricing like that.”
Others argue tourists already shoulder higher costs simply by travelling long distances.
“In general for tourists, I think things should be a little cheaper than for local people, because we have to travel to come all the way here,” said Darla Daniela Quiroz, another Canadian visitor. “It should be equal pricing, or a little bit cheaper.”
Even some Europeans question the two-tiered system. A French tourist interviewed outside the museum said there was “no reason” to charge non-Europeans more and that the fee should be the same for everyone.
Tourism experts say the Louvre’s financial pressures help explain the decision.
“The Louvre is really cash-strapped right now and needs to do something,” said Marion Joppe, a professor at the University of Guelph. “It can’t really look to the government, which is already struggling with its own budget.”
The move also reflects a broader global pushback against mass tourism. Anti-tourism protests have spread across parts of Spain, New Zealand has increased its entry tax, and the United States recently raised national park fees for foreign visitors.
“You take Paris — it gets about 50 million tourists a year,” said Julian Karaguesian, an economist at McGill University. “That’s roughly a million a week. The city simply wasn’t built for those kinds of numbers.”
Despite the higher price, many visitors say they will still line up to see the Mona Lisa and other of the museum’s famous artworks.
“It’s one of the main attractions. It’s on everybody’s list,” Moore said. “We’re still going to go, and hopefully it will be worth it in the end.”
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Politics
Trump calls Canada-China deal ‘good thing’ as U.S. officials voice concern – National TenX News
Canada’s new trade deal with China is getting a mixed reaction in Washington, with U.S. President Donald Trump voicing support as administration officials warned Ottawa could regret allowing Chinese EVs into the Canadian market.
The deal signed with Beijing on Friday reverses course on 100 per cent tariffs Canada slapped on Chinese electric vehicles in 2024, which aligned with similar U.S. duties. Canada and China also agreed to reduce tariffs on canola and other products.
Asked about the deal by reporters at the White House, Trump said Prime Minister Mark Carney was doing the right thing.
“That’s what he should be doing. It’s a good thing for him to sign a trade deal. If you can get a deal with China, you should do that,” Trump said.
However, members of Trump’s cabinet expressed concern.
“I think they’ll look back at this decision and surely regret it to bring Chinese cars into their market,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at an event with other U.S. government officials at a Ford factory in Ohio to tout efforts to make vehicles more affordable.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told reporters the limited number of vehicles would not impact American car companies exporting cars to Canada.
“I don’t expect that to disrupt American supply into Canada,” he said.
“Canada is so dependent on the United States for their GDP. Their entire population is crowded around our border for that reason. I’ll tell you one thing: if those cars are coming into Canada, they’re not coming here. That’s for sure.”
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Carney has said it’s necessary for Canada to improve trade ties and cooperation with China in light of Trump’s trade war and threats to let the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on free trade expire.
The trade pact is up for review this summer, and Greer reiterated that the Trump administration wants to bring more auto manufacturing back to the U.S. and incentivize companies to do so.
Under the new deal with Beijing, Carney said he expects China will lower tariffs on its canola seed by March 1 to a combined rate of about 15 per cent.
Greer questioned that agreement in a separate CNBC interview.
“I think in the long run, they’re not going to like having made that deal,” he said.
He called the decision to allow Chinese EVs into Canada “problematic” and added: “There’s a reason why we don’t sell a lot of Chinese cars in the United States. It’s because we have tariffs to protect American auto workers and Americans from those vehicles.”
Greer said rules adopted last January on vehicles that are connected to the internet and navigation systems are a significant impediment to Chinese vehicles in the U.S. market.
“I think it would be hard for them to operate here,” Greer said. “There are rules and regulations in place in America about the cybersecurity of our vehicles and the systems that go into those, so I think it might be hard for the Chinese to comply with those kind of rules.”
Trump and officials like Greer have taken aim at Chinese attempts to enter the North American car market through Mexico by bypassing rules of origin under CUSMA.
The CUSMA review set for July is expected to address those loopholes that American and Canadian officials have said are being exploited by China.
Those concerns, which were also raised by the Biden administration, in part helped spur the steep tariffs on Chinese EVs, which are heavily subsidized by Beijing.
Trump, however, has also said he would like Chinese automakers to come to the United States to build vehicles.
Both Democrat and Republican lawmakers in the U.S. have expressed strong opposition to Chinese vehicles as major U.S. automakers warn China poses a threat to the U.S. auto sector.
Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno, a Republican, said at Friday’s event at the Ford plant that he was opposed to Chinese vehicles coming into the United States, and drew applause from the other government officials.
“As long as I have air in my body, there will not be Chinese vehicles sold the United States of America — period,” Moreno said.
—with files from Reuters
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
How could Canada, EU, NATO respond to a U.S. takeover of Greenland? – National TenX News
Louvre raises ticket prices for non-Europeans, hitting Canadian visitors TenX News
Trump calls Canada-China deal ‘good thing’ as U.S. officials voice concern – National TenX News
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