From labour to IPR, non-trade issues may not be part of India-Canada deal

Early harvest agreement likely to be signed by year-end

The proposed early harvest agreement between India and Canada is unlikely to see inclusion of non-trade issues, such

as environment, digital trade, and labour, at this stage, people aware of the matter said.
 

This is because India is reluctant to make a commitment on these sensitive issues, considering both countries are working out an early harvest deal and not a comprehensive one. The deal is likely to be signed by the end of this year.
 

The focus of negotiations for the early harvest deal is on goods, trade remedies, dispute settlement, rules of origin, services investment, and Customs and trade facilitation, one of the people cited above said.
 

“We are excluding chapters on environment, labour, and intellectual property rights (IPR) and would like to defer chapters on digital trade,” the person cited above said.
 

Typical non-trade issues, such as gender, labour, environment, have become priorities of the developed nations while signing free trade agreements (FTAs). But India has been cautious about making commitments in these new areas in bilateral deals.
 

For instance, the recently signed trade deal with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) includes a chapter on digital trade with commitments of ‘best endeavour’ in nature. This includes cybersecurity, personal data protection, cross-border flow of information, among other areas. 
 

This means there are no binding commitments on these issues, and discussions could be taken up later.
 

In the case of the interim deal (Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement) with Australia, matters related to digital trade and IPR were not included. But these are now being negotiated as part of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA).
 

The comprehensive FTA negotiations with the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK) involve these chapters. In the case of the UK, IPR is one of the contentious issues that is yet to see any resolution.
 

FTA progress
 

In March 2022, India and Canada formally re-launched talks for a comprehensive trade deal to create new opportunities for boosting trade and investment flows. It was also decided that an early progress trade agreement (EPTA) would be a transitional step towards the CEPA. Till now, there have been nine rounds of negotiations.
 

“The trade deal is in an advanced stage and is expected to be completed by the end of this year,” the person said.

In FY23, Canada was India’s 35th largest trading partner, with a total trade value of $8.16 billion. India’s exports to Canada stood at $4.11 billion against $3.76 billion in FY22. Major items of Indian exports include medicines, garments, diamonds, chemicals, gems and jewellery, sea food, engineering goods, rice, and electric equipment.
 

Imports from Canada stood at $4.05 billion, up 29.3 per cent. Key imports include pulses, fertilisers, aircraft and aviation equipment, diamonds, copper ores and concentrates, and bituminous coal.