The Gateway of India in Mumbai in August, 2023. Prime Minister Mark Carney is scheduled to visit the city on Friday.INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP/Getty Images
The Gateway of India, a majestic arch located on Mumbai’s waterfront, is a symbol of the country’s colonial past and its commercial future.
Completed in 1924, the monument was created to commemorate the arrival of King George V, who was also the Emperor of India, and Queen Mary to the city, then known as Bombay, in 1911.
More than a century after its construction, this iconic landmark has also become emblematic of modern India’s economic aspirations through trade.
Prime Minister Mark Carney is scheduled to visit Mumbai, a port city and financial hub, on Friday, weeks after India reached a historic trade pact with the European Union. It is the most significant trade agreement that India has signed with another middle power, as it hedges against the geopolitical machinations of both the United States and China.
India has clinched a total of nine free trade agreements covering 38 countries in recent years, securing preferential access to nearly two-thirds of global markets.
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Earlier this week, Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal hinted that Chile could be next. In addition to its upcoming talks with Canada, India has also commenced trade talks with Israel and the Gulf Cooperation Council, an economic alliance of six Middle Eastern countries.
That means Mr. Carney’s challenge for this India trip is far more complicated than moving bilateral relations from rupture to reconciliation. He must also ensure that Canada – which for decades was regarded by New Delhi as the “younger brother of the U.S.” – does not get overlooked in the global rush to secure trade deals with the world’s fourth-largest economy.
That two-pronged goal is entirely achievable because Canadian commodities and institutional investment naturally align with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s economic objective of Viksit Bharat (developed India). Specifically, Mr. Modi’s vision is to transform India into a developed country by 2047, the year it will mark its 100th anniversary of independence from Britain.
The starting point for Canada is understanding how India plans to achieve Viksit Bharat. Trade is a facet of that strategy.
Thus, there are lessons for Ottawa to glean from the recent India-EU trade pact, which Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, called the “mother of all deals.”
The agreement creates the world’s biggest free-trade zone and connects almost two billion consumers. The combined markets are worth US$24-trillion.
The pact will also eliminate or reduce tariffs on the vast majority of EU exports to India, resulting in annual savings of US$4.8-billion for the 27-country economic union.
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Canada, of course, is a much smaller market. Even so, the India-EU trade agreement can serve as a “benchmark” for Ottawa as it pursues its own trade talks with New Delhi, according to the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.
“India offered the EU its best deal thus far,” writes Tanya Dawar, a research scholar with the foundation, in a recent report.
The India-EU deal, she added, offered tariff concessions covering 97.5 per cent of EU exports. Importantly, they exceed those offered in India’s deals with Britain (91 per cent) and the European Free Trade Association bloc (95.3 per cent), which includes Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.
“As India offers increasingly ambitious tariff concessions in recent FTAs, covering sectors such as automobiles, machinery, chemicals, and precious metals, Canada risks being at a competitive disadvantage without preferential access,” states Ms. Dawar in the report.
“Notably, the EU–India agreement includes a dedicated chapter for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that improves access to information on operating in each market.”
As Mr. Dawar points out, that development is pertinent because SMEs comprise the bulk of Canadian companies.
Most Canadian SMEs still do not export their goods to overseas markets, which hinders the utilization of Canada’s 15 free trade agreements.
“Only the most productive firms can handle the costs and challenges of exporting and successfully compete abroad,” states a 2025 federal government report.
The India-EU trade pact also includes other provisions, such as improved market access for EU agri-food exports, that are relevant to Canada.
“The agreement delivers an unmatched agricultural market access, compared to India’s other trade agreements such as with the UK and Australia,” states the EU fact sheet on the deal.
Chiefly, it notes that “sensitive agricultural sectors” in both jurisdictions (including India’s dairy market) remain protected. That, too, resonates with Canada.
Ottawa and New Delhi hope to finalize the terms of reference for their trade talks during Mr. Carney’s trip.
India, though, has plenty of suitors seeking a preferential gateway to its massive market. Canada must avoid getting bumped to the back of the line.