Canadian PM Carney to arrive in India this week

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will travel to Mumbai and Delhi this week, as part of a three-nation tour to India, Australia and Japan aimed at enhancing and diversifying Canada’s trade relations, his office announced on Monday (February 23, 2026).

Mr. Carney is expected to land first in Mumbai on February 27, and meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on March 2, and discuss “new partnerships in trade, energy, technology and artificial intelligence (AI), talent and culture, and defence”, a statement released in Ottawa said. The visit to three of Canada’s “strongest Indo-Pacific partners”, who are all part of the Quad with the U.S., is also a significant push for Canada’s own Indo-Pacific policy.

“In a more uncertain world, Canada is focused on what we can control. We are diversifying our trade and attracting massive new investment to create new opportunities for our workers and businesses,” Mr. Carney was quoted as saying about the 10-day visit to all three countries. “We are forging new partnerships abroad to create greater certainty, security and prosperity at home,” he added.

Ahead of the visit, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar held talks with his Canadian counterpart Anita Anand on the sidelines of the Munich Security Forum last week.

During the visit, Mr. Carney is expected to focus on India-Canada trade negotiations for a comprehensive economic partnership agreement, investment opportunities, cooperation in fossil fuel and nuclear energy, as well as critical minerals technology. He will also seek to put behind years of mistrust and sharp rhetoric between the Modi government and his predecessor, Justin Trudeau, whose last visit to India for the G-20 summit in 2023 proved to be particularly acrimonious over the Khalistan issue.

Last year, Mr. Modi’s visit to Canada for the G-7 outreach and meeting with Mr. Carney began the process of repairing ties, which the return visit this week is expected to complete, officials said.

Thaw in ties

In what was seen as a particular breakthrough, National Security Ajit Doval visited Canada in early February, after years of India-Canada tensions over the killing of Khalistani separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June 2023, that the Canadian police accused the Indian government of orchestrating through agents there. The trial of four men who have been arrested for the killing is expected to begin later this year, but in a sign that the Canadian government wants to be sensitive to India’s concerns over the case, the Canadian Attorney General has, according to local reports, requested permission to suppress certain evidence disclosures as they could be “injurious to international relations and national security”.

In a statement about the meeting between Mr. Doval and his counterpart Nathalie Drouin, the Ministry of External Affairs didn’t refer directly to the case but said that they “agreed to a shared workplan to guide bilateral cooperation on national security and law enforcement issues and to enable practical collaboration on respective priorities”.

Mr. Carney will meet Mr. Modi for official talks on Monday and fly that evening to Australia, to discuss cooperation on “defence and maritime security, critical minerals, trade, and advanced technologies, including AI” with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and address the Australian Parliament, before travelling to Tokyo to meet newly re-elected PM Sanae Takaichi. 

Mr. Carney’s visit comes a month after his trip to Beijing, where Canada and China restored trade ties, visas, and reduced restrictions on Chinese electric vehicles after his talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang. It also follows a major downturn in ties with the U.S. over tariffs and counter-tariffs, and U.S. President Donald Trump’s criticism of Canada, which he referred to last year as the U.S.’s “51st state”.

In an address to the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, Mr. Carney’s sharp criticism of U.S. “hegemony” had also sparked a round of tensions. On Monday (February 23, 2026), in a sign of the poor state of relations, the U.S. White House celebrated the U.S.’s hockey win over Canada with a photograph of an eagle attacking a duck, meant to symbolise both countries, as it mocked a post from a few years ago by then PM Trudeau.