UAE and Canada Sign Trade Deal Cutting Tariffs on 99% of Canadian Exports
The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, signed in Ottawa, covers tariffs, services and investment and is expected to take effect in 2027.
Canada and the United Arab Emirates signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement in Ottawa that will cut or remove tariffs on more than 99% of Canadian exports to the UAE. The deal is expected to take effect in 2027.
UAE Foreign Trade Minister Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi and Canadian International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu signed the agreement. Prime Minister Mark Carney and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan attended the ceremony.
The pact commits both governments to lower trade barriers, simplify customs procedures, widen market access and expand two-way investment. It also addresses non-tariff barriers and opens services trade, including engineering and environmental services.
Canadian exporters of agricultural goods such as pulses and canola stand to gain, along with suppliers of industrial machinery, power generation equipment, aerospace products, forest products and seafood.
Two-way merchandise trade between the countries reached $2.5 billion, or CAD $3.5 billion, in 2025. Canadian exports accounted for $2 billion, or CAD $2.8 billion, of that, while imports from the UAE came to $483.5 million, or CAD $679.1 million. The two governments want to lift bilateral trade from roughly $2.4 billion, or CAD $3.4 billion, to $5 billion, or CAD $7 billion, within a decade.
The UAE is Canada's largest export market in the Middle East. Canada ranks as the UAE's third-largest trading partner in the Americas.
The agreement builds on a UAE pledge, made during Carney's visit to the country in November 2025, to invest up to $50 billion, or CAD $70 billion, in Canada. That framework spans clean energy, mining, artificial intelligence, agri-food, aviation, space and infrastructure.
Officials also signed a memorandum of understanding on diplomatic training and an agreement on defense cooperation. The two countries plan to begin negotiations on extradition and mutual legal assistance treaties.
For Carney, the signing advances his goal of doubling Canada's non-US trade over the next decade, an effort given urgency by trade tensions with Washington and stalled attempts to reach a deal there. The UAE, meanwhile, is widening its roster of trade partners. The asymmetry between the two economies is sharp: Canadian shipments to the UAE run roughly four times the value of what Canada buys back, and the investment commitment is worth far more than a year of goods trade. Capital, not tariff lines, may do the heavier lifting.
Ratification procedures in both countries must be completed before the agreement takes effect.
