Canada outlines partnership strategy as global order rupture reshapes trade and security agenda

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Canada partnership strategy

Highlights

Canada is reducing reliance on single partners and expanding ties through issue-based coalitions, launching the Partners for Multilateralism to reform the UN system.
Canada prioritizes values-based realism focused on critical minerals, defence, emerging technologies, and trade links in Indo-Pacific, Gulf, Latin America, Africa, Europe, and renews partnerships with India and China.
Canada reaffirms support for Ukraine, calls Iran the main regional security threat, backs a two-state solution for Israel-Palestine, and expands humanitarian and security aid in Haiti, Sudan, and Gaza.

Canada sets out multilateral and trade strategy

As reported by UN News, Anand tells the UN General Assembly that the international order has entered a period of deep disruption, which she describes as a rupture rather than a transition. She says major powers are stepping back from economic cooperation and that state sovereignty is too often being treated with disdain.

Against that backdrop, Canada is pursuing greater strategic autonomy, with plans to cut over-reliance on any single partner while expanding economic and diplomatic ties. Anand says Ottawa is building issue-based coalitions involving small states, middle powers and major powers, while insisting those partnerships should strengthen, not replace, the multilateral system.

She says Canada and its partners have launched a Partners for Multilateralism initiative to support reform of the UN and other international institutions so they become more representative, effective and trustworthy. Canada is also advancing what Anand calls values-based realism, with a focus on emerging technologies, critical minerals, defence production and energy, alongside deeper trade links in the Indo-Pacific, Gulf region, Latin America, Africa and Europe, as well as renewed partnerships with India and China.

Security priorities broaden across regions

Anand reaffirms Canada's support for Ukraine and for what she calls a comprehensive, just and lasting peace based on the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity. She also presents the Arctic as central to Canadian identity and security, highlighting cooperation with Indigenous peoples and regional partners.

On Iran, Anand says Canada regards the country as the principal threat to peace and security in its region, condemns attacks she attributes to Tehran and says Iran must never acquire a nuclear weapon. Addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, she says both Israelis and Palestinians have a right to self-determination, backs a negotiated two-state solution, rules out any governance role for Hamas in Palestine and describes Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal under international law.

She also points to Canadian support for security and elections in Haiti, humanitarian assistance for crises including Sudan and Gaza, and international cooperation on responsible artificial intelligence and maritime security. Framing the shift as a long-term response to a changing global landscape, Anand says Canada intends to move with confidence and remain committed to international law, durable partnerships and UN principles.

Canada’s international assistance package unveiled at the 81st UN General Assembly outlined over $398 million for education, Ebola response, and humanitarian support, alongside additional funding for Haiti. Our earlier report noted how Ottawa positioned these commitments as part of a broader diplomatic push, including coalition-building around development finance and crisis response, while reiterating support for humanitarian aid and a two-state solution in the Middle East.

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