Canada | Pakistan

Canada and India have agreed to restart stalled talks for a new trade deal, the Indian government said on Sunday, after discussions between the two countries paused following a diplomatic spat two years ago. Prime Minister Mark Carney met with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a bilateral discussion on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. “The leaders agreed to begin negotiations on a high-ambition Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), aimed at doubling bilateral trade to USD 50 billion by 2030,” the statement from India’s Prime Minister’s Office said. “PM Modi and I met at the G20 summit today, and launched negotiations for a trade deal that could more than double our trade to more than C$70 billion,” Carney said in a post on social media platform X. “India is the world’s fifth largest economy, and that means big new opportunities for Canadian workers and businesses.” Both sides reaffirmed their longstanding civil nuclear cooperation and noted the ongoing discu...

A Pakistan International Airlines flight attendant has reportedly gone missing in Canada, prompting the airline to launch an inquiry into his disappearance. ​According to PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez Khan, the attendant did not report for flight PK-798 from Toronto to Lahore. “When contacted, he cited ill health as an excuse,” the spokesperson said, adding that the matter is being investigated. “In case of illegal disappearance, departmental action will be initiated against the flight attendant,” Khan said. Missing PIA crew members, particularly in Canada, have been reported in the past, too. Last year in October, a cabin crew member was reportedly gone missing while on duty. The missing crew member, based in Islamabad, had disappeared during a layover in Toronto. Similarly, a 47-year-old PIA steward was reportedly gone missing in Canada in March 2024. In February 2024, another member of the airline’s cabin crew was reported missing while on duty. The member had arrived in Toronto on PIA flight PK-782 fro...

Canada and Pakistan have agreed to facilitate the export of Canadian canola to the South Asian nation, the countries said in a joint statement issued late on Monday. Canada has been looking to open new markets for the commodity after China announced preliminary anti-dumping duties on Canadian canola imports in August, a year after Canada said it would levy a 100 per cent tariff on imports of Chinese electric vehicles. In a joint statement released late on Monday, the two countries said that Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar had held a phone call with Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand on October 30, “reaffirming the strong and enduring ties between Pakistan and Canada and emphasising the importance of deepening cooperation in areas of mutual interest”. “Pakistan and Canada agreed to facilitate the export of Canadian canola to Pakistan, recognising the significant potential of Pakistan’s expanding market for this Canadian commodity,” the statement said. It added that the ministers also we...

Canada’s clampdown on international students has hit applicants from India particularly hard, government data shows, as what was once a preferred destination loses its allure for Indian students. Canada lowered the number of international student permits it issues for the second year in a row in early 2025 as part of a broader effort to reduce the number of temporary migrants and address fraud related to student visas. About 74 per cent of Indian applications for permits to study at Canadian post-secondary institutions in August — the most recent month available — were rejected, compared to about 32pc in August 2023, according to immigration department data provided to Reuters. By contrast, about 40pc of study permit applications overall in each of those months were refused. About 24pc of Chinese study permits in August 2025 were rejected. The number of Indian applicants has dropped as well, from 20,900 in August 2023 — when Indians formed just over one quarter of all applicants — to 4,515 in August 2025. Ind...

Pakistan and Canada have reaffirmed their resolve to strengthen mutually beneficial economic cooperation, focusing on expanding trade and investment across diverse sectors.

US President Donald Trump slammed Canada for playing “dirty” on Friday as a row over an advertisement featuring former leader Ronald Reagan that prompted Trump to scrap trade talks showed no sign of abating. The Canadian province of Ontario said it would pull the offending anti-tariff ad on Monday so that negotiations could restart, after Trump alleged that the ad misrepresented the views of fellow Republican Reagan. But Trump showed no sign of backing down, saying Ontario should not have let it air during the first two games this weekend of baseball’s World Series. Adding extra spice to the row, the World Series features a Canadian team, the Toronto Blue Jays, facing a US team, the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Blue Jays thrashed the Dodgers 11-4 in the first game on Friday. “Canada got caught cheating on a commercial, can you believe it?” Trump told reporters before heading on a trip to Asia. “And I heard they were pulling the ad — I didn’t know they were putting it on a little bit more. They could have pulled i...

United States President Donald Trump said on Thursday all trade talks with Canada were terminated following what he called a fraudulent advertisement in which former and late president Ronald Reagan spoke negatively about tariffs. Trump imposed tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum and autos earlier this year, prompting Ottawa to respond in kind. The two sides have been in talks for weeks on a potential deal for the steel and aluminum sectors. “Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. Ontario Premier Doug Ford said earlier this week the ad from his province with anti-tariff messaging had caught Trump’s attention. The ad showed Reagan, a Republican, criticising tariffs on foreign goods while saying they caused job losses and trade wars. “I heard that the president heard our ad. I’m sure he wasn’t too happy,” Ford said on Tuesday. The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation issued a statement late on Thursday saying the ad by the gove...

The High Commission of Canada in Pakistan, in collaboration with the Department of Digital Media, University of the Punjab, hosted a high-level Strategic Dialogue on Media Literacy and Digital Resilience to advance collective efforts in strengthening media freedom, digital inclusion, and information integrity in Pakistan.

India and Canada agreed on Monday on a new roadmap for their relations after talks between their foreign ministers in New Delhi, as both countries seek to mend ties strained over the killing of a Canadian Sikh separatist. The two countries, both of which are looking to diversify trade away from the United States due to tariff announcements, agreed to collaborate on areas such as critical minerals, trade and agricultural value chains, a joint statement said. “Reviving this partnership will not only create opportunities for enhanced economic cooperation but also help mitigate vulnerabilities arising from shifting global alliances,” it said. Almost two years of strained relations The statement came after Canada’s Foreign Minister Anita Anand met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and her counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Monday. “Both of our governments agree on the importance of elevating the relationship,” Anand said in her opening remarks at the meeting with Jaishankar. Relations between New Delhi and O...

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Monday announced a 15% discount on flights to Canada, aiming to facilitate passengers following the recent resumption of services.

Britain, Australia and Canada on Sunday recognised a Palestinian state in a seismic shift in decades of Western foreign policy, triggering swift Israeli anger. Portugal was also to recognise Palestinian statehood later on Sunday, as Israel came under huge international pressure over the conflict in Gaza triggered almost two years ago by the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack. “Today, to revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis, and a two-state solution, the United Kingdom formally recognises the State of Palestine,” UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a message on X. Britain and Canada became the first G7 countries to take the step, with France and other nations expected to follow at the annual UN General Assembly, which opens Monday in New York. “Canada recognises the State of Palestine and offers our partnership in building the promise of a peaceful future for both the State of Palestine and the State of Israel,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney wrote on X. Meanwhile, Australia announced ...

Canada has announced the opening of applications for the Canada Graduate Research Scholarship (CGS) 2026, inviting students from Pakistan and around the world to apply.

Canada and India announced new high commissioners to each other’s countries on Thursday, in the latest sign of improving ties frayed by former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegation that India was linked to the killing of a Sikh separatist leader on Canadian soil. India’s previous high commissioner left Canada in October. Ottawa said he was among six diplomats who were expelled after they were linked to the murder of separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, while India said it had withdrawn the envoy. India also said that same day that it had ordered the expulsion of six high-ranking Canadian diplomats, including the then-acting high commissioner. Trudeau’s successor, Mark Carney, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to reinstate senior diplomats when they held their first bilateral meeting in Canada in June. Canada’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday that veteran diplomat Christopher Cooter would take up the post, which had been vacant since the previous incumbent left last year. “The ap...

OTTAWA: Canada will remove many retaliatory import tariffs on U.S. goods and intensify contacts with the United States on striking a new trade and security relationship, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Friday. Canadian tariffs on U.S. autos, steel and aluminum will remain for now, he told a press conference in Ottawa. Carney noted that […]

Canada will face a 35 per cent tariff on exports to the United States starting August 1, President Donald Trump said on Thursday in a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney. It was the latest of more than 20 such letters issued by Trump since Monday, as he continues to pursue his trade war threats against dozens of economies. Canada and the US have been locked in trade negotiations in hopes of reaching a deal by July 21, but the latest threat appeared to have shifted that deadline. Both Canada and Mexico are trying to find ways to satisfy Trump so that the free trade deal uniting the three countries — known as the USMCA — can be put back on track. “Throughout the current trade negotiations with the United States, the Canadian government has steadfastly defended our workers and businesses. We will continue to do so as we work towards the revised deadline of August 1,“ Carney posted on the social media platform X Thursday night. The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement replaced the previous NAFTA accord in July ...

The United States will resume trade negotiations with Canada immediately after Ottawa scrapped its digital services tax targeting U.S. technology firms, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Monday. “Absolutely,” Hassett said on Fox News Channel when asked about the talks restarting. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Canadian Prime Minister […]

United States President Donald Trump said on Friday that he is calling off trade negotiations with Canada in retaliation for taxes impacting major US tech firms, adding that Ottawa will learn of their tariff rate within a week. “Based on this egregious tax, we are hereby terminating all discussions on trade with Canada, effective immediately,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. He added that Canada will soon find out the levy it needs to pay to do business in the United States, calling his country’s northern neighbour “very difficult” to trade with. Washington has previously taken issue with Canada’s digital services tax, requesting dispute settlement talks last year over the matter. While Canada’s digital services tax is not new — it was enacted last year — US service providers are “on the hook for a multi-billion dollar payment in Canada” by June 30, noted the Computer and Communications Industry Association. While Canada has been spared from some of Trump’s most sweeping duties, such as a 1...

Group of Seven (G7) leaders will gather in the Canadian Rockies starting on Sunday amid growing splits with the United States over foreign policy and trade, with host Canada striving to avoid clashes with US President Donald Trump. While Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says his priorities are strengthening peace and security, building critical mineral supply chains and creating jobs, issues such as US tariffs and the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine are expected to feature heavily. US ally Israel launched a barrage of strikes across Iran on Thursday, a blow to Trump’s diplomatic efforts to prevent such an attack. The summit will take place in the mountain resort of Kananaskis, some 90 kilometres west of Calgary. The last time Canada played host, in 2018, Trump left the summit before denouncing then Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “very dishonest and weak” and instructing the US delegation to withdraw its approval of the final communique. “This will be a successful meeting if Donald Trump...

Members of Canada’s Sikh community, who were warned by police that their lives were at risk and allege the Indian government is responsible for the threat, are incensed by Ottawa’s invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the G7 summit in Alberta. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney invited Modi, although India is not a G7 member, to attend the summit, which starts on Sunday, as a guest. It will be Modi’s first visit to Canada in a decade and a diplomatic test for Carney, a political neophyte. Canada’s relationship with India has been tense since former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2023 accused India’s government of involvement in the June 18, 2023 murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist leader in Canada. Modi’s government has denied involvement in Nijjar’s killing and has accused Canada of providing a safe haven for Sikh separatists. “‘Outrage’ is the kind of term that I’ve heard from people,” Sikh activist Moninder Singh, a friend of Nijjar, said of the invitation. He and other S...

New Delhi: After his name was initially missing from the list of Global South leaders invited to the G7 summit in Canada, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Friday that he had received the elusive invitation and would be attending the June 15-17 jamboree. Indian opposition had held the absence of the invitation to Modi as yet another sign of India’s isolation after the military escalation with Pakistan last month. The Indian Express said it was a sign of improving ties between India and Canada that Mr Modi was invited by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney for the upcoming G7 meeting in Kananaskis later this month. Ties between the two countries had worsened under former PM Justin Trudeau who had levelled several allegations against India. The US has arrested a man allegedly linked to the assassination of a Sikh separatist in Canada’s Surrey district.  Canada and India downgraded diplomatic ties after Mr Trudeau, the then Canadian prime minister, set off a political storm in 2023 when he alleged...