JAKARTA, INDONESIA -- Nearly a week after it was revealed Canada had paused trade talks with India, Canada鈥檚 international trade minister says Ottawa is 鈥渢aking stock鈥� of where things are at.
鈥淭rade agreements are complex and there are many things that go into that,鈥� International Trade Minister Mary Ng told reporters in Indonesia. 鈥淎ll we are doing at this point is taking a reflection to take stock of where we are.鈥�
The trade minister鈥檚 comments come less than a week after India鈥檚 envoy to Canada revealed Ottawa had asked for a pause 鈥渨ithin the last month.鈥�
"The Canadian side has requested that, let's take a pause ... and then we'll restart," Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma told The Canadian Press last week.
So far, government officials have offered few details about why the talks have stalled and what prompted the pause in the first place.
But Goldy Hyder, the CEO of the Canada Business Council, says it鈥檚 important Canada get back to the table, whatever the reason.
鈥淚 think games are afoot on both sides,鈥� he said while in Indonesia for meetings related to the ASEAN summit. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important they get back to the table and do so soon because businesses have options 鈥� if not India, there鈥檚 a lot of other countries.鈥�
Canada and India first launched talks for a , but those plans were abandoned in 2017. Since 2022, the two countries have instead been engaged in talks about a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement that would be restricted to certain industries.
Hyder said he believes the pause is a chance for the government to ask questions about the content of a potential agreement, to look at the areas where consensus can be found and where Canada is likely 鈥渙verreaching.鈥�
鈥淭here are places where we have to remember it is an early progress trade agreement,鈥� Hyder said. 鈥淚 call it dating 鈥� we鈥檙e not agreeing to even live together, never mind getting engaged or married. We鈥檙e just agreeing to date. Surely we can figure out what the rules are when we鈥檙e dating and if we can鈥檛 do that, then I think it reflects poorly on both sides.鈥�
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be in New Delhi, India, starting on Friday for the G20 summit. So far it鈥檚 unclear whether Trudeau and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have a bilateral meeting on the schedule.
