Overview
- The negotiating round, which ran 25–29 May in Toronto, brought technical working groups together and moved five chapters of the free‑trade text to the stage of concluding negotiations.
- Canada's minister of international trade, Maninder Sidhu, met Mercosul negotiators in Toronto as governments signaled that roughly 60% of the agreement is already settled.
- Officials and sources said a new negotiating round is planned for Brasília in the coming weeks with the goal of finishing the pact in 2026 if the current pace holds.
- Rising bilateral trade underpins the push for a deal: Brazil‑Canada trade reached US$10.4 billion in 2025 with Brazilian exports to Canada at US$7.3 billion, a 14.8% increase from 2024.
- Mercosul sees the pact as a way to expand access to developed markets and attract investment in sectors such as mining and infrastructure while Canada seeks to diversify its trade away from heavy dependence on the United States.