The 16th Round of the ASEAN–Canada Free Trade Agreement (ACAFTA) Trade Negotiating Committee (TNC), along with a series of related technical meetings, officially opened in Manila, Philippines, on the morning of 24 November 2025. The negotiation round will run until 28 November 2025, providing an opportunity for chief negotiators and technical experts from the 10 ASEAN Member States and Canada to advance discussions on the remaining outstanding issues of the ASEAN–Canada FTA, which include key areas such as trade in goods, trade in services, investment, rules of origin, legal and institutional issues, and intellectual property.

Canada has long been regarded as one of ASEAN’s long-standing and important dialogue partners. At the 5th ASEAN–Canada Economic Ministers’ Consultation Meeting held in August 2016, Ministers from both sides agreed to conduct a feasibility study on the establishment of an ASEAN–Canada Free Trade Agreement. Finalized in 2018, the study concluded that an FTA would significantly boost ASEAN’s exports to Canada and likewise strengthen Canada’s exports to ASEAN markets.

Building upon this study, ASEAN and Canada conducted further discussions from 2019 to 2021 and subsequently finalized the Reference Paper for a Possible ASEAN-Canada Free Trade Agreement. This document was endorsed by Economic Ministers at the 10th ASEAN–Canada Economic Ministers’ Consultation Meeting in November 2021, paving the way for both sides to formally launch the ACAFTA negotiations. The Agreement is expected to cover both traditional FTA areas such as trade in goods; trade in services; investment; rules of origin; customs procedures; sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS); standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures (STRACAP); etc and non-traditional areas, as decided by negotiators.

To date, the ACAFTA negotiations have undergone 15 formal rounds and achieved substantive progress across a number of chapters and key areas. Following the guidance of Ministers at the 14th ASEAN–Canada Economic Ministers’ Consultation Meeting held in late September 2025, both sides are now working towards the shared objective of concluding the ACAFTA negotiations in 2026./.

Source: Compiled by the Multilateral Trade Policy Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade of Viet Nam