Last weekend's G20 summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, produced a joint statement focusing on global inequality, inclusive growth, and easing debt pressures on developing countries, with the host labelling the conference a “victory for multilateralism,” despite watered-down language on global trade and the U.S.’s absence.
The leaders’ statement noted that WTO reform is “essential,” but steered clear of further discussion of trade. Last year’s statement, in contrast, emphasized the need for “a rules-based, non-discriminatory, fair, open, inclusive, equitable, sustainable, and transparent multilateral trading system.”
The missive also featured, for the first time, a major section on critical minerals, which could bode well for Canada and Australia. The two countries, both critical-minerals heavyweights, recently agreed to collaborate and jointly invest in critical minerals projects, easing competition as the West looks to wean itself off Chinese production (and, in time, refining).
The Commonwealth connection
In Johannesburg, Canada and Australia teamed up with India on a trilateral technology and innovation partnership, which will create a new framework for co-operation on artificial intelligence, critical and emerging technologies, nuclear energy, and supply-chain diversification.
The Sunday meeting between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was Carney’s most noteworthy: the two leaders agreed to launch negotiations towards a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement and committed to doubling bilateral trade to C$70 billion by 2030. Canada–India trade talks started in earnest in 2010, lumbering along before being suspended in 2023.
The leaders’ second sit-down in six months — and another attempt at trade talks — suggests that the Canada–India ‘reset’ is not only continuing but deepening. In another encouraging sign, Carney also formally accepted Modi’s invitation to visit India in early 2026.
The ties that bind
U.S. President Donald Trump’s absence at the summit created breathing room for other leaders, allowing them to meet and mix without fear of wandering into his crosshairs.
Trump also skipped this month’s COP30 summit and departed early from the APEC summit in South Korea and the G7 leaders’ summit in Alberta. These absences and exits are seen by some as a ceding of international influence; German Chancellor Fredriech Merz acknowledged this point, telling Reuters that "the world is currently undergoing a realignment and [...] new connections are being formed."
New trade connections are part of that trend: at the summit, Canada, the European Union, and Vietnam discussed linkages between the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the EU.
Carney wrote about possibly “bringing together” the two blocs in an op-ed this month. He also instructed his Personal Representative to the EU, John Hannaford, to convene officials from Canada, the EU, and Vietnam to probe this partnership, aiming for “concrete results” by early 2026.
Around the same time in Australia, CPTPP members held inaugural trade and investment dialogues with the EU and ASEAN. The CPTPP–ASEAN joint statement identified four areas of potential co-operation: trade and investment facilitation, digital trade, regulatory coherence, and supply chain resilience.
