OTTAWA, Oct 27 (Reuters) – Canada and ‌the United Arab Emirates signed a comprehensive trade deal on Tuesday to lower barriers between the two economies and boost investment, the governments said, as Prime Minister Mark Carney seeks to expand trade and investment ties at a time of tension with the United States.
Carney and ​Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan presided over the signing of ​the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which aims to cut tariffs, reduce red tape and ⁠improve market access for businesses in both countries.
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Carney has vowed to double Canada’s non-US trade over the next decade ​as President Donald Trump’s tariffs have rippled through Canada’s economy. Subsequent attempts for a deal with Washington have broken ​down, and that has pushed Carney to aggressively pursue trade pacts with countries from the Asia Pacific to Europe and Middle East.
“Once fully implemented, the CEPA will reduce or eliminate tariffs on over 99% of current Canadian exports to the UAE. That means new ​markets for Canadian farmers growing pulses and canola, for manufacturers of industrial machinery and power generation equipment, for ​our world-class aerospace sector, and other Canadian innovators,” The Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.
“The agreement will also address non-tariff barriers, ‌create ⁠a more predictable environment for trade and investment, and expand market access for Canadian goods and services, including in the industrial, agricultural, forest, fish and seafood, environmental, and engineering sectors,” it said, adding CEPA is expected to enter into force in 2027.
The two countries also signed preliminary agreements on energy, diplomatic and defence cooperation.
“We see considerable potential for ​our private sector, whether ​through improved market access for ⁠our exporters or access to investment opportunities in high-growth sectors such as logistics, communications, advanced technology and manufacturing – all of which will support our pursuit of a resilient, ​diversified and globally connected economy,” UAE’s Foreign Trade Minister Thani Al Zeyoudi said in ​a statement.
He signed ⁠the CEPA deal with his Canadian counterpart Maninder Sidhu.
UAE is the largest Middle Eastern market for Canadian exports and is a big buyer of Canadian motor vehicles and parts, and machinery. Two-way trade between the countries was worth C$3.5 billion ($2.48 ⁠billion) ​last year. It has been growing at 10% annually for the last ​few years, according to a government data.
The UAE last year also committed up to in Canada.
The signing is the last step ​before Canada’s Parliament can ratify the agreement, a Canadian government source said.
Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama

Prime Minister Mark Carney signed a free-trade agreement and defence co-operation pact Tuesday with the United Arab Emirates, and agreed to launch negotiations on an extradition treaty with the Gulf state’s government, one that human-rights groups have accused of jailing dissidents.
An extradition treaty would make the UAE a formal extradition partner. That would give it the ability to ask Canada to hand over people who are wanted in the UAE for conduct considered crimes in both countries.
The Prime Minister, seeking foreign capital as he works to reduce economic reliance on the increasingly protectionist United States, is counting on the UAE to deliver on a pledge made last fall to invest $70-billion in Canada. Ottawa has not clarified over what time period this money will flow into the country.
Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the son of the UAE president, and other senior Emirati officials were in Ottawa for a two-day visit this week that included a Monday evening dinner hosted by Mr. Carney and attended by Canadian business leaders.
Neither Mr. Carney nor Sheikh Khaled took questions from the media Tuesday as various pacts were signed. The trade deal had been concluded in July.
Canada and UAE sign free trade deal, signal investment deals in energy sector ‘very soon’
Mr. Carney announced a new strategic partnership with the UAE Tuesday, and his office said the defence pact would pave the way for joint exercises, defence industrial co-operation, information exchanges, and co-operation in cybersecurity and military education and training. Canada and the UAE said they would create a “Joint Military Committee” to guide this collaboration.
Civil liberties watchdog Freedom House rates the UAE 18/100 on its freedom index, noting “limited elections are held for a federal advisory body, but political parties are banned, and all executive, legislative, and judicial authority ultimately rests with the seven hereditary rulers.” The civil liberties of both citizens and non-citizens, “who make up an overwhelming majority of the population, are subject to significant restrictions.”
The defence co-operation agreement is already sparking criticism from human-rights activists and Sudan support groups. Many human-rights advocates and other analysts have alleged that the UAE is the main weapons supplier to Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which have perpetrated massacres and other atrocities in the Darfur region.
The UAE has repeatedly denied that it supports the RSF militia, but United Nations investigators have found that military equipment and mercenaries were sent to the RSF on cargo flights from airports in the Gulf state. One UN report found that the mercenaries were trained and financed in the UAE. Weapons from UAE-based manufacturers have often been documented in the RSF arsenal in Sudan.
UN investigators find evidence of UAE links to Sudan war
“Such serious allegations cannot be sidelined as Canada pursues a closer partnership with Abu Dhabi,” the Montreal-based Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights said in a statement this week. “Canada must confront this record directly.”
Paul Champ, an Ottawa-based lawyer who often represents Canadians imprisoned abroad, said it was deeply troubling to hear Canada has agreed to begin negotiations on an extradition treaty with the UAE, a country he said is regularly criticized by the United Nations and human-rights groups for its record.
“The UAE craves legitimacy in the West but the reality is that it is not a democracy and does not have the same respect for due process, human rights and the rule of law,” Mr. Champ said in an interview Tuesday. “Signing an extradition treaty would send the wrong message to the UAE as it suggests Canada is comfortable with the UAE’s human-rights record.”
“Canada’s extradition laws allows Canada to negotiate extraditions on a case-by-case basis with any country in the world. There should be some hard questions for the Carney government about why they view this as a wise agreement,” Mr. Champ said.
He said it appears the UAE is on a campaign to sign extradition treaties with Western governments, noting Belgium, Sweden, Ireland and Netherlands all signed extradition treaties with Gulf country in the last couple of years.
Senior Carney aide Angad Singh Dhillon appointed Canada’s next UAE ambassador
If a treaty were concluded, a UAE extradition request would go before a Canadian judge, who would have to be satisfied there is enough evidence that the person would face trial had the alleged crime happened in Canada. The justice minister would then personally decide on whether to surrender the person to the UAE, and the person could appeal both decisions to the provincial court of appeal.
Mr. Carney’s office said the new Canada-UAE trade deal is expected to enter into force in 2027. It said the agreement will reduce or eliminate tariffs on more than 99 per cent of existing Canadian exports to the Gulf country.
That means new markets for Canadian farmers growing pulses and canola, manufacturers of industrial machinery and power generation equipment, the aerospace sector, and other industries, the Prime Minister’s Office said.
“The agreement will also address non-tariff barriers, create a more predictable environment for trade and investment, and expand market access for Canadian goods and services, including in the industrial, agricultural, forest, fish and seafood, environmental, and engineering sectors,” the PMO said.
Dubai ports giant DP World signs memorandum of understanding to help develop Port of Churchill
In 2025, Canada’s two-way merchandise trade with the UAE was $3.5-billion, with $2.8-billion in exports and $679.1-million in imports, the government said.
The Prime Minister’s Office pointed to three UAE investments in Canada as evidence that the Gulf country is delivering on its $70-billion promise, noting that Dubai-based port operator DP World Ltd. has signed a memorandum of understanding with the owner of Manitoba’s Port of Churchill to explore further development of an expanded northern shipping corridor that could include container traffic. The PMO also noted a new energy co-operation agreement between state-owned Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company and Natural Resources Canada, “establishing a cooperation framework in the energy sector,” as well as an agreement between Invest in Canada, the federal investment promotion agency, and the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry to facilitate business connections and visits.
The PMO did not say how much investment commitment these three announcements comprise.
The Gulf region, with its trillions of investment capital, is one of several priority regions for Canada, along with Europe and Asia, as it seeks to diversify trade away from the increasingly unreliable U.S. under President Donald Trump, and attract foreign investment in energy, infrastructure, artificial intelligence and resources.
Mr. Carney visited the UAE in November, 2025, the first Canadian prime minister to visit the Emirates in more than 40 years.

Last month, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made a bombshell offer to Canada: to become the first EU “associate member”. Now the term is proving hard to swallow for several member states, including her own Germany.
Ahead of the EU-Canada summit, meant to chart what many see as the closest partnership between the bloc and a non-member country, European capitals led by Berlin have pushed back against a term that has yet to be clearly defined, five EU diplomats told Euronews.
“The main concern is that this is unknown terminology, it might bring up legal uncertainty and expectations from other third countries,” one of the diplomats said. “This was not communicated previously from the Commission. We don’t know what we are talking about.”
Last week, a revised draft of the joint declaration explicitly mentioned the notion, vowing regular exchanges with Canadian authorities on major policy and regulatory initiatives and to define the full scope of the partnership at the 2027 summit.
Naming the term outright in what would be the first EU official document of major political significance to include it has drawn strong pushback from Germany, Italy and Greece, and scepticism from other countries, including France.
A new draft circulated on Monday evening added wording that distanced member states from the concept, specifying that it was “put forward by the European Commission”.
The text was due to be adopted on Tuesday through the so-called silent procedure, under which a document passes unless a member state objects. Germany, Italy, France and Greece all raised objections before the deadline.
The office of European Council President António Costa is now expected to circulate a new version, with another round of talks at ambassador level on Wednesday, before the summit opens in Montreal on Thursday.
Von der Leyen floated the idea of offering associate membership to Canada in her annual State of the Union speech to the European Parliament in September, with Prime Minister Mark Carney as guest of honour.
The idea had been put to the Canadians before, but it was never discussed with member states or within the Commission, catching capitals including Paris and Berlin off guard.
Even Carney did not seem fully sold on the nomenclature, preferring to call it an “alliance of the future”. “What matters is the substance,” he said when asked whether he was comfortable with the term.
With governments now finalising the joint declaration, to be adopted at the summit on Thursday and Friday, that initial lack of consultation is coming back to haunt the bid.
For Berlin, the main issue is that member states should first define what the cooperation package contains, and only then agree the terms for the declaration, not the other way around.
There is broad consensus on seeking closer cooperation with Canada in areas such as defence, critical raw materials, energy, trade and border security. It is the associate membership label that has drawn scrutiny.
Others took aim at its legal implications, arguing these must be carefully studied before the term enters a political declaration.
“It does not mean anything, it is not in the treaties,” a second EU diplomat said, adding that “we want to find a way to make the concept work.”
Von der Leyen is not new to launching new ideas and forging ahead with initiatives without consulting with the member states. In 2023, she announced a migration deal with Tunisia and was criticised for lacking a formal mandate to do so.
“In the case of Tunisia, member states fully agreed with the objective of reducing arrivals, but they had to say that they did not 100% agree with the way it was done. It is a bit the same case here,” a third diplomat told Euronews.
For this diplomat, the EU should not view the label as merely institutional, but as a way of packaging what would otherwise inevitably look like a sector-by-sector technical exercise in bringing Canada closer to the bloc.
For von der Leyen’s critics, she has a habit of making grand announcements before figuring out the implications. For her supporters, her strength is staying ahead of the curve, setting out a political vision and letting the bureaucratic machinery do the rest.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz was the first to propose associate membership, but pitched it as a way to anchor Ukraine to the EU, with security guarantees, as Kyiv progressed through the accession process.
Applying it to Canada carries a very different connotation: it would offer a blueprint for the closest possible partnership with a non-European country that could never join the bloc.
“A lot of other countries want to come closer to the EU, but we don’t know what to offer them. Whatever deal we reach with Canada might be an important motivator for others,” an EU official told Euronews.
This story was updated with additional information.

Prime Minister Mark Carney, who is courting wealthy Gulf investors, hosted a dinner in Ottawa on Monday for Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi, the oil-rich heart of the United Arab Emirates.
A guest list of nearly 120 names obtained by The Globe and Mail shows many in Canada’s corporate elite were invited to dine with Sheikh Khaled and senior members of Abu Dhabi’s ruling circle.
The dinner capped the first day of a two-day visit to Canada by the Crown Prince, whose father is the president of the UAE.
Canada and UAE sign free trade deal, signal investment deals in energy sector ‘very soon’
The blossoming relationship between Canada and the UAE has included the inking of a free trade agreement in July and an investment protection treaty that went into force in May. Mr. Carney came back from a visit to the country last fall touting a UAE commitment to invest $70-billion in Canada.
Ottawa is deepening ties with the UAE and other foreign trade partners as part of a push by the Prime Minister to lessen Canada’s economic reliance on the United States.
One of the most prominent invitees to the dinner was former prime minister Stephen Harper. The list leaned toward companies and investors with stakes in defence and security, energy, critical minerals, infrastructure, international development, space, advanced communications, quantum computing and artificial intelligence – all areas in which the Prime Minister’s Office has said the two countries will expand relations.
Senior Carney aide Angad Singh Dhillon appointed Canada’s next UAE ambassador
The invitees also included lawyers, consultants and lobbyists representing business interests in Ottawa, as well as provincial representatives, hospital and university leaders, museum administrators and representatives of Indigenous communities.
Members of the Desmarais family, long synonymous with Power Corporation of Canada, were on the list. André Desmarais, deputy chairman of Power Corporation of Canada, and Paul Desmarais III, a senior vice-president, were both listed, along with executives from Power Sustainable, a Power Corp. investment arm.
Also among the invitees were representatives of several large industrial companies, including Gregory Ebel, chief executive of Enbridge Inc.; Ian Edwards of engineering firm AtkinsRéalis; Alexandre L’Heureux of WSP Global; Kieran Hawe of construction company EllisDon; Bruce Power’s chief operating officer, James Scongack; and Eric Desaulniers, head of graphite developer Nouveau Monde Graphite.
Victor Dodig, recently appointed chief executive of Telus Corp., was also listed, as was Éric Martel, chief executive of Bombardier Inc.
Members of the tech industry were invited, including Joelle Pineau, chief AI officer at Cohere, and Valérie Pisano, chief executive of Mila.
Big investors and lenders were also on the list, including Deborah Orida, chief executive of PSP Investments; Alison Nankivell of Export Development Canada; and Geneviève Bouthillier, an executive vice-president at BDC Capital. So were government-relations heads from Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, HOOPP and Sun Life, and venture investor Chris Arsenault of Inovia. Gurinder Grewal, named chief executive of Invest in Canada on Aug. 31, was also on the list.
Many members of Mr. Carney’s inner circle were listed, including Marc-André Blanchard, his chief of staff; Michael Sabia, Clerk of the Privy Council; David Morrison, a senior diplomatic adviser; Scott Gilmore, principal secretary; and Jennifer MacIntyre, a deputy chief of staff. The ambassadors to the United States and the UAE, Mark Wiseman and Angad Dhillon, were also on the list. So was Sébastien Carrière, Global Affairs Canada’s chief of protocol.
Many of the Emiratis who were invited work for the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince’s Court. Sheikh Khalifa bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, the court’s chairman, and Saif Ghobash, chairman of the Crown Prince’s Office and secretary-general of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, were listed, as was Sultan Al Jaber, who is both the UAE’s minister of industry and advanced technology and chief executive of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.
Among the rest of the Emirati contingent on the list were representatives of DP World, a Dubai-based port operator that on Monday announced a memorandum of understanding with the owner of Manitoba’s Port of Churchill to explore further development of an expanded northern shipping corridor. Douglas Smith, chief executive officer of the company’s operations in Canada, was invited, as was Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansoori, chairman of Dubai Chambers, who also sits on DP World’s board.
The full list obtained by The Globe is below.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says he’s calling on the federal government to abolish the Indian Act.
Kinew shared that request during a scrum in Ottawa on Monday, as First Nations leaders and Canada’s first ministers meet to discuss Indigenous rights for the first time in two decades.
“I don’t know how many folks in Canada have seen one of these before, but this is a status card, and it says your friend Wab Kinew is an Indian, within the meaning of the Indian Act,” he said, holding up his own card in front of reporters during a midday break in the historic meeting.
“I’m not sure if that lines up with your vision of Canada, that we still have a race-based form of identification in this country. But this is a reality.”
Kinew said he raised the issue with Prime Minister Mark Carney earlier Monday, calling it “long overdue that we have a relationship with Indigenous Peoples in Canada that reflects who we are as Canadians today.
“I think it’s time to abolish the Indian Act,” Kinew said. “And it needs to be done with First Nations people and First Nations governments.”
The controversial legislation has governed the lives of First Nations people for the last 150 years.
Coming into effect in 1876, the act came to control almost every aspect of First Nations people’s lives, dictating things like how communities were governed and who could be considered an “Indian.”
While the act has had many amendments, it remains the overarching legal document for First Nations in Canada.
‘Nothing to lose but your chains’
Carney and most of the premiers sat down with chiefs from the Assembly of First Nations in Ottawa for a discussion . Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, the assembly’s national chief, said the meeting is intended to help build prosperity for coming generations.
Monday’s closed-door meeting is the first such gathering since the Kelowna Accord talks of 2005, which brought premiers and then-prime minister Paul Martin together with Indigenous leaders to discuss ways to close the socioeconomic gaps in Indigenous communities.
The Kelowna agreement was not implemented after the Conservative government under former prime minister Stephen Harper took office only a few months later.
Monday’s meeting comes as Carney’s government works to speed up major project approvals and development — efforts some First Nations chiefs have said threaten their rights.
Tensions between Ottawa and First Nations spiked soon after Carney was elected in 2025, when his government passed legislation to create a new office tasked with streamlining major project developments and approving projects within one year.
Kinew said he supports Carney’s work at the international level, “saying that we are going to be a leader when it comes to human rights and democracy, and a leader among middle powers.” But he called the Indian Act’s continued existence inconsistent with that message.
The premier said though doing away with the Indian Act would bring changes, things like treaties and constitutional rights would still be able to exist for First Nations people.
“You can have self-determination, and you can have strong Indigenous nationhood, while at the same time not having the paternalism and the barriers that come with the Indian Act,” Kinew said.
“You have nothing to lose but your chains.”