Overview
- Canada and Ecuador signed a free-trade agreement in Ottawa on July 24, 2026, in a ceremony that was not open to the public and included Ecuador’s minister of production, foreign trade and investment.
- The Ecuador pact, whose negotiations ended in early 2025, would require Ecuador to effectively remove tariffs on Canadian imports and follows nearly $2.2 billion in bilateral trade in 2025.
- Canada and the United Arab Emirates said they concluded negotiations on a separate free-trade agreement after a 47-day process and will move next to legal review, signing and parliamentary ratification.
- The UAE deal comes after a year when bilateral merchandise trade was about $3.4 billion and the UAE pledged roughly $70 billion in potential investment in Canada, which officials say could lead to investment announcements soon.
- Canadian environmental and human-rights groups have publicly opposed the Ecuador agreement, arguing it risks ecological damage and could worsen rights abuses, a challenge that could shape parliamentary debate and the ratification timeline.