Canada and Vietnam upgraded relations to a Strategic Partnership last week during a state visit by Tô Lâm, Vietnam’s president and general secretary of the ruling Communist Party, the first visit to Canada by a Vietnamese general secretary since diplomatic ties were established in 1973.
Lâm and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney discussed trade and investment, AI, digital technology, transportation, and agri-food. The two leaders also expanded an air agreement to allow direct passenger and cargo flights between Canada and Vietnam. Air Canada was quick to act on the expanded agreement, pledging to "work with the relevant authorities" to launch scheduled service to Ho Chi Minh City in 2027.
Nearly 174,000 Canadians travelled to Vietnam in 2025. Roughly 275,000 Canadians report Vietnamese origins.
The two countries also signed or renewed four MOUs, spanning conventional and clean energy, maritime transport, the environment and climate change, and food safety. Hanoi also committed to establishing a permanent Defence Attaché Office in Canada, while Canada pledged to send a delegation led by Lieutenant-General Derek Macaulay to the Vietnam International Defence Expo in December.
In Asia, Canada now has Strategic Partnerships with China, India, the Philippines, Vietnam, and ASEAN, in addition to Comprehensive Strategic Partnerships — a cut above — with Japan and South Korea.
Last year, Canada–Vietnam merchandise trade totalled C$20.6 billion.
Bridges over troubled waters
Canada and Vietnam have been central to attempts to bridge the European Union and the CPTPP. The next major step, a CPTPP–EU ministerial meeting, is scheduled for November in Hanoi.
At a July event co-hosted by APF Canada in Hanoi, the deputy head of the EU delegation to Vietnam tabled four measures that Brussels would like to see introduced at that meeting next month, including:
- The launch of a crisis response network for supply chain disruptions;
- Endorsement of a reference paper on logistics and supply chain services;
- A common position on trade-related environmental measures, and;
- The announcement of a scoping paper for a future digital trade agreement.
As Distinguished Fellow Dan Ciuriak argued in his latest APF Canada paper, “the EU–CPTPP ‘bridge’ can promote the development of a market with the scale to compete with China and the U.S. while retaining the perspectives and values of small open economies.”
