Prime Minister Carney to visit the Indo-Pacific region to deepen trade and defence relationships and unlock new economic opportunities for Canadians + Lots of thoughts from Noah
The global trade landscape is rapidly changing. In the face of this upheaval, Canada’s new government is focused on transforming our economy from one that is reliant on a single trade partner to one that is stronger and more resilient to global shocks. To that end, a core mission of the government is to diversify and strengthen Canada’s trade partnerships.
Today, the Prime Minister, Mark Carney, announced that he will travel to Malaysia, Singapore, and the Republic of Korea, from October 24 to November 1, 2025, to deepen trade relationships in the Indo-Pacific region, shore up defence partnerships, and unlock new opportunities for Canadian workers and businesses.
In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the Prime Minister will attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit. The ASEAN region is a major global market of over 677 million people and an economy of over $5 trillion. The Prime Minister will focus on advancing significant new export opportunities for Canadian industries, from agriculture and energy to innovation and technology. While in Malaysia, Prime Minister Carney will meet with the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim, and key business leaders to strengthen economic ties between Canada and Malaysia.
In Singapore, the Prime Minister will meet the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lawrence Wong, and senior business leaders to deepen the Canada-Singapore partnership in trade, energy, and technology. Canada’s growing partnership with Singapore, supported by the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), is already delivering benefits to Canadian exporters. The Prime Minister’s visit will accelerate efforts to remove trade barriers and attract investment, with the aim of increasing Canadian market access in Southeast Asia.
The Prime Minister will then travel to Gyeongju, Korea, to participate in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting. APEC economies account for over 60% of global GDP and nearly half of all global merchandise trade – making this relationship invaluable for Canada’s economic growth. While in Korea, the Prime Minister will meet with the President of Korea, Lee Jae Myung, international counterparts, and senior business leaders to deepen trade in agriculture, energy, defence, and critical minerals.
In a world of rapid change, Canada’s new government is focused on what we can control. We are growing a strong economy – one that is built on the solid foundation of thriving Canadian workers, strong Canadian industries, and bolstered by diverse international trade partners.
Quote
“The Indo-Pacific is the world’s fastest-growing economic region, presenting major opportunities for Canadian workers and businesses. Our new government is laser-focused on expanding trade in the region – opening doors to new markets, investors, and customers for Canada."
The Rt. Hon. Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada
Quick facts
This will mark Prime Minister Carney’s first official visit to the Indo-Pacific region.
The Indo-Pacific region is Canada’s second-largest regional trading partner, with annual two-way merchandise trade valued at $261 billion in 2024.
As of 2023, APEC’s 21 member economies were responsible for more than 60% of world GDP, accounted for around 50% of world merchandise trade, and were home to nearly 37% of the world’s population.
APEC is a key merchandise trade partner for Canada. Canada’s trade with APEC was a significant source of growth in 2024, valued at $1.3 trillion.
In 2024, the 10 ASEAN member states represented the fifth-largest economy in the world and the third-largest population in the world.
As a group, ASEAN represented Canada’s fourth-largest merchandise trade partner, with annual two-way trade valued at $42.3 billion in 2024.
In September, Canada announced a new trade agreement with Indonesia – Canada’s first-ever bilateral trade agreement with an ASEAN country. This agreement will either reduce or fully eliminate tariffs on over 95% of current Canadian exports to Indonesia.
Also in September, Canada and Mexico launched a new Comprehensive Strategic Partnership to deepen ties between our two countries in trade, environmental conservation, development of long-term infrastructure, and bilateral security to disrupt transnational organised crime, drug and human trafficking, money laundering, and cybercrime.
In June, Canada announced the New EU-Canada Strategic Partnership of the Future to create more economic opportunities and long-term prosperity for workers, businesses, and citizens in both Canada and the European Union.
Noah Notes: More trips! You all know how excited these make me. Prime Minister Carney is finally rounding out the Indo-Pacific, with three separate trips and APEC planned over the week. I had expected the Philippines to be here, however, we’re sticking to two of the lesser-known potential partners — Malaysia and Singapore.
Canada is at the tail end of negotiations with the ASEAN bloc over a Free Trade Deal. The 13th Trade Negotiating Committee (TNC) and related meetings of the ASEAN–Canada Free Trade Agreement (ACAFTA) negotiations took place in May.
The Fourteenth ASEAN Economic Ministers–Canada (AEM–Canada) Consultation was also held just a few weeks ago, on 26 September 2025 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. While the original goal was to have an agreement signed by the end of the year, the hope is now to get it done early next year. Of course, securing these agreements is seen as a top priority for the current government and their goals of diversification.
The Indo-Pacific, if you’ve followed me for a while, has been a major focus of Foreign Affairs this year. We’ve had multiple trade missions to Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Brunei. Just two days before the Fourteenth AEM–Canada Consultation, Canada and Indonesia also announced their own separate trade and security agreement through the Indonesia–Canada Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (ICA–CEPA).
Canada has been an ASEAN dialogue partner since 1977. The current ASEAN–Canada Strategic Partnership was signed in 2023, while the current free trade talks have been ongoing since November 2021.
Canada and the ASEAN nations maintain deep relations, and the ASEAN bloc is a major cornerstone of Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy. Through the Indo-Pacific Strategy, Canada has committed $47 million over five years for security assistance and $10 million for the ASEAN–Canada Mitigation of Biological Threats Program.
Canada has also launched the Canadian Trade Gateway in Southeast Asia and the Canadian Trade Gateway for Nuclear Development last year. Canada is also working towards becoming a full member of the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM+).
Point being, a lot is being done. Despite efforts, Canada still remains a distant factor in the Indo-Pacific. We remain ASEAN’s sixteenth-largest trading partner and ninth-largest source of foreign direct investment as of last year.
While we are working on increasing our defence presence in the region — including through new agreements with countries like the Philippines and Indonesia, as well as more deployments into the region (HMCS *Ville de Québec* participated in Exercise ALON last month, while HMCS *Max Bernays* is currently participating in Exercise SAMASAMA 2025) — we can’t ignore that building our economic and trade relationships also plays a huge role in opening up the region.
We tend to focus a lot on defence and security, which is great, but you can’t look at these things in isolation. While many are keen to brush off the long, boring talks that trade negotiations are made of, they play a major part in building these relationships. It is often through these meetings that a lot of secondary agreements and partnerships come from, which is why I am always keen to cover these developments to the best of my ability.
Security includes things like economic security, environmental security, and other off-branches that I would love to cover more — and plan to.
Malaysia and Singapore are both major partners in the region. Canada and Singapore, of course, share a deep history and spiritual connection. Singapore is also Canada’s largest source of direct foreign investment in Southeast Asia. We were one of the first countries to recognize their independence, we’re both Commonwealth nations, and Singapore is home to many of Canada’s regional organizations.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand was also in Singapore this week in between her trips to India and China. She met with Minister of Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan to celebrate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our countries.
So to see Carney there right after is a good sign that his government is going to continue the trend we’ve seen this year in taking a more proactive approach to Indo-Pacific relations.
From here, the Prime Minister will attend APEC 2025 in Seoul from October 31 to November 1. He will also be visiting Hanwha’s Okpo Shipyard in Geoje. There, he will at least get a tour of the first KSS-III Batch-II submarine “Jang Young-Sil.” The Koreans apparently pushed for him to attend the launch ceremony, and there were even talks of pushing it back for him, though I have no idea if that’s still happening.
Either way, he will get to see the Batch-II sub in person for himself — that alone is important. I also hear that Hanwha and the Korean government will have some surprises waiting for his visit. What those are, no clue. Might be partnerships. Hanwha has been going hard at meeting as many companies as possible. They already disclosed the three dozen companies they met at DEFSEC Atlantic last month.
They’ve also met with officials from General Dynamics, Telesat, MDA, General Motors, Ontario Shipyards, Irving, Seaspan, OSI Marine, Kraken Robotics, Calian, Genoa Design, and Patriot Forge, to name a few. Basically, if there’s a company with any sort of defence relation, Hanwha has met them. That’s also beyond CPSP, as the company’s next goals are to tackle various Army projects like Indirect Fires Modernization, MEDCAV, and Enduring Phase II.
I am very excited to see what comes from these visits. Of course, you can never expect much “juice,” but these still play an important role and usually set the stage for what’s next. An update on the Canadian Trade Gateway for Nuclear Development would be nice — it’s one of the programs that really made me happy, and one I have high hopes to see results from.
Hopefully seeing first hand how much more efficient and advanced the Korean ship building is compared to TKMS coupled with touring the actual physically larger and already produced submarine (unlike in Germany where he had to tour an older 212 as there is no finished 212CD) he may come home to announce the KSS-III as the new submarine design for Canada and get busy negotiating the contract. This would go well toward helping him spend the other 7 billion of the addition 9 promised for the 2025/2026 budget. Probably not, but here's to hoping.
Slightly off topic, but I read an interesting article from (I think) US Navy Proceedings where the author was making a case for the US to purchase a fleet of KSS-III batch II subs. The theory was these subs, with their VLS, would be forward-based and provide an initial strike capability against China. They could also free up American SSNs which are over-tasked.
Personally I don't think the US will ever go back to SSKs but I though the premise was very interesting.