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Canada and the UAE closed a trade agreement in 47 days, and the AI money started moving eight months before it
The News
Canada and the United Arab Emirates concluded negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement on July 24, 2026 in Toronto, where International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu and UAE Minister of Foreign Trade Thani Al Zeyoudi announced it. Al Zeyoudi said the talks took 47 days; Global Affairs Canada calls it one of the fastest agreement negotiations Canada has ever completed. Concluding negotiations precedes signature and ratification, and the text is not public. Negotiations were launched during Prime Minister Mark Carney's November 2025 visit to Abu Dhabi, the same trip that produced a bilateral investment treaty, in force since May 19, 2026, and the UAE's decision to invest $70 billion (US$50 billion) in Canada, on a visit whose investment discussions covered critical minerals, energy, ports and AI.
Chandni Melwani
Founder & Editor
Jul 31, 2026 · 2 MIN READ
Know More
- — What a CEPA is: the UAE's standard bilateral free trade agreement, covering tariffs, services and market access. This is the 38th the Emirates has finalised since starting the programme in 2021, one of up to seven it expects to conclude in 2026.
- — Status: negotiations concluded, not signed. Signature and ratification still follow, and Canada has not published the text.
- — Speed: 47 days, per Minister Al Zeyoudi, who called it record time. Canada's own release calls it one of its fastest ever.
- — The trade base: Canada-UAE merchandise trade was $3.5 billion in 2025 and the UAE is Canada's top export market in the Middle East, per Global Affairs Canada. Bilateral commercial services trade was $445 million in 2024.
- — Why the hurry: Ottawa is targeting a doubling of non-US exports and $1 trillion in new investment, and the White House announced 50% tariffs on certain Canadian goods four days earlier.
Trade agreements usually take years. Canada and the United Arab Emirates finished this one in 47 days, according to UAE trade minister Thani Al Zeyoudi, and announced the conclusion in Toronto on July 24. Global Affairs Canada calls it one of the fastest negotiations the country has ever completed.
A Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement is the UAE’s standard bilateral trade deal, covering tariffs, services and market access, and it now has 38 of them. Concluding negotiations still leaves signature and ratification ahead, and Canada has not published the text.
Read the Canadian announcement and the word AI never appears. It lists five aims, all of them conventional trade language about market access, barriers and supply chains. The AI commitments were made eight months earlier in Abu Dhabi, on the trip that launched these talks, where Carney signed an investment protection treaty that has been in force since May, and the UAE announced it would invest $70 billion (US$50 billion) in Canada. The sectors sit a sentence away, in Carney’s meetings with sovereign wealth fund leadership: critical minerals, energy, ports and AI. Sidhu’s own line in Toronto pointed back at that treaty rather than this one: “Our investment agreement gives investors the certainty they need to write those cheques.”
Which puts the opening on the services side. The capital route into Canadian AI was built last November, the chips route through the Gulf opened in July, and Ottawa has spent the summer pointing its own pension funds at the region. What a ratified CEPA would add is cheaper movement of engineering, software and professional services into the UAE, which is the deployment layer of this corridor, and the thinnest part of it.
Related
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Canada-UAE CEPA in force?
No. Negotiations concluded on July 24, 2026. Signature and ratification come next, and the agreement text has not been published, so what is in it beyond the announced aims is not yet public.
Does the agreement cover AI or data centres?
Canada's announcement does not say. It lists five aims and AI is not among them. The AI-named commitments belong to the November 2025 package: an investment protection treaty, in force since May 2026, and a UAE decision to invest $70 billion (US$50 billion) in Canada, announced on a visit whose investment discussions covered critical minerals, energy, ports and AI.
Why did it move so fast?
Both sides had reasons. Canada is diversifying away from a US market that takes more than 70% of its exports and has just been hit with new tariffs. The UAE runs a standing CEPA programme and has finalised 38 of them since 2021.
Sources
- Global Affairs Canada, "Canada and United Arab Emirates conclude Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement negotiations" — the date, the ministers, the aims and the trade figures
- Prime Minister of Canada, "Prime Minister Carney secures new agreements with the United Arab Emirates" — the investment treaty and the $70 billion framework
- The National, "UAE finalises Cepa with Canada to reduce trade barriers" — the 47 days, the 38th CEPA, and Sidhu on investor certainty
Chandni Melwani
Chandni Melwani is the founder and editor of New in AI, covering AI agents, M&A, and enterprise adoption. She holds a Master's in Management of Artificial Intelligence from Queen's University and brings a practitioner's perspective from her work in Data and AI leadership.
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