Prime Minister Mark Carney and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed a document in Manila formally ending negotiations for a Canada–Philippines free-trade agreement, with Ottawa aiming to sign the deal next year.
The Story
Prime Minister Mark Carney concluded negotiations for a Canada–Philippines free-trade agreement during a meeting with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in Manila on Saturday, where both leaders signed a document formally ending the talks.
Carney made the remarks while meeting Marcos Jr. on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, telling the Philippine president: “A ship that stays in the harbour is safe, but that's not what a ship is for. And it takes a leader to take the ship out of the harbour into choppy waters and reach a destination,” adding, “In terms of our relationship, you've been able to do that.”
Ottawa is aiming to have the actual free-trade agreement signed next year.
The negotiations started just over a year ago after Canada and the Philippines restarted efforts in a renewed push a year ago, following earlier talks that had begun in 2015. During consultations, corporations were broadly supportive of the proposed deal to increase trade, while civil society raised concerns about the Philippines’ record on the environment, labour and human rights.
The two countries’ broader relationship includes agreements signed in recent years. This summer, Carney signed a strategic partnership agreement with the Philippines that called for more labour mobility and climate resilience projects, and last autumn he signed a trade deal with Indonesia.
Canada and the Philippines reported $3.4 billion in bilateral merchandise trade in 2025, with Canada exporting mineral ores, meat, cereals, fertilizers and aircraft, and importing cooking oils, leather and rubber products.
The leaders’ meeting took place during an ASEAN summit attended by 20 heads of government, including guests from outside the region such as U.S. President Donald Trump and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Southeast Asia is described as one of the world’s fastest-growing economic regions, and ASEAN is said to include nearly 700 million people.
Canada is also pursuing a broader trade agreement with ASEAN that includes the Philippines and 10 other countries, and Ottawa said trade between Canada and ASEAN countries totalled $52.3 billion last year, about one-fifth more than the previous year.
A co-founder of the Centre for Strategic Statecraft, Vina Nadjibulla, said the ASEAN summit and related meetings in the region this week give Carney a chance to reinforce Asia’s importance to Canadians, describing Canada as a “Pacific nation” with an Indo-Pacific strategy.
Queen’s University professor Stéphanie Martel, who studies ASEAN and international diplomacy, said Carney has a narrower policy approach to the region than former prime minister Justin Trudeau, adding that Carney has focused on strategic sectors such as trade and military collaboration.
Martel also said the approach risks sidelining what she described as a more comprehensive way that ASEAN countries think about security, including connections to climate change, regime stability through economic growth, and the involvement of women in security and military issues.
Martel and Nadjibulla both pointed to the need for stronger partnerships beyond trade. Nadjibulla said Canada’s challenge is ensuring it has enough Asia partnerships that extend to areas such as defence-industry co-operation, digital trade, mobility and education, while Martel said a “narrow, trade-focused, short-termist perspective” could make it harder to move the relationship forward comprehensively.
The ASEAN summit also comes amid heavy smoke tied to Indonesian wildfires linked to climate change and palm-oil extraction, as well as rising geopolitical and economic competition involving the United States and China, which Nadjibulla said has affected recent ASEAN summits, including through issues such as semiconductors, critical minerals and tariffs.
← More stories