Canada Completes Free Trade Talks With Philippines as Carney Pursues Trade Diversification

Published on 14 November 2026 – 16:09 GMT+1

Canada has concluded negotiations with the Philippines on a free trade agreement, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on Saturday, as Ottawa continues to seek ways to reduce its reliance on the United States amid strained relations with Washington.

“One year ago, Canada and the Philippines launched talks on a new free trade agreement,” Carney wrote in a social media post. “Today, we’ve already concluded the negotiations.”

“We’re diversifying our trade partnerships to build a stronger, more resilient Canadian economy,” added Carney, who is in Manila to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the summit, Carney said his government would move quickly to finalise the deal and that it is expected to enter into force in 2027. The agreement will likely take around six months to sign, he added.

“This is good news for Canadians in the agriculture sector, in the aerospace sector, even in AI, and our businesses working across forest products, mining, energy, services and beyond,” he told reporters.

Ottawa is also hoping to secure a broader trade agreement with the 11-member ASEAN group as a whole. Negotiations on such an arrangement have been “substantially completed,” according to Carney.

The prime minister said Saturday’s announcements were “part of a strategy of developing a dense web of reliable partners to create more opportunities for our businesses, more choice for Canadians, better jobs for our workers and reducing our relative reliance on the United States.”

Canada has been seeking to double its non-US exports by 2035 and has been aligning itself more closely with Europe as part of its push to reduce reliance on the US, prompted by repeated trade clashes with US President Donald Trump.

Trump is due to arrive in Manila early next week before travelling to China for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen. Carney is scheduled to head next to Cambodia before also arriving in China.

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