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Canada and Turkey have announced a new strategic partnership, as Prime Minister Mark Carney pushes to reduce Canada’s dependence on the US amid Trump’s trade war.
Getting into it: Carney and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced the deal Thursday in Ankara during Carney’s two-day trip, marking the first time a Canadian prime minister has made an official visit to Turkey. The partnership comes with a three-year action plan covering trade and investment, defense and security, energy and people-to-people ties, including cooperation on liquefied natural gas, nuclear power, critical minerals, defense production, aerospace and AI.
Free trade talks are set to begin next month in Ankara, and Erdoğan said the countries aim to grow trade from about $3 billion to $5 billion and eventually $10 billion, while roughly doubling direct flights. Turkey, reeling from an Iran war that sent energy prices spiking, is looking to lock in fuel imports and minerals, and is in talks with Canada’s AtkinsRealis about building new nuclear plants. Turkey makes up less than 0.3% of Canada’s trade, but the amount the two countries do together has jumped almost 50% in five years.
“Our goal is not self-sufficiency; it is collective resilience, and that’s why Canada is building deeper partnerships with reliable partners,” Carney said. “In Turkiye, we have an exceptional partner.”
Erdoğan said the countries are “launching a new era between Turkiye and Canada,” and insisted the partnership won’t just “remain on paper.” Amnesty International urged Carney to raise human rights concerns, pointing to Turkey’s crackdown on opposition politicians, journalists and LGBTQ+ activists, including the jailing of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, Erdoğan’s main rival, for more than a year, with Amnesty saying “Canada must not treat human rights as secondary in the negotiations.” Turkey says its courts are independent.
This all comes as Carney has pushed to double Canada’s exports outside the US within 10 years, inking over 20 trade agreements in the last 12 months, including a deal with China in January, though the US still buys nearly 70% of what Canada sells abroad.
