On March 6, 2026, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and his Japanese counterpart, Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae, issued a joint statement at the conclusion of their meetings in Tokyo (the “Joint Statement”). The Joint Statement outlines a new Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (“CSP”) between the two countries. In addition to enhanced intergovernmental and military cooperation, the CSP focuses on a number of key trade and investment objectives.
Strengthening the Flow of Capital
In addition to the sectoral initiatives described below, the Joint Statement underscores the two countries’ commitment to strengthening the flow of investment capital by multiple means, ranging from increased pension fund investment to building stronger relationships between the Japanese and Canadian innovation, venture capital and startup ecosystems (including joint commercialization of new technologies).
Opportunities in Key Sectors
The undertakings in the Joint Statement (and accompanying Strategic Roadmap) are primarily focused on the advanced technology/critical minerals, automotive/industrial, defence, energy and agri-food sectors, as follows:
Advanced technology and critical minerals
- Modernizing existing cooperation agreements to focus on advanced technologies – including semiconductors, AI, batteries, clean energy and critical minerals – and supply-chain resilience.
- Cooperation at all stages of the critical minerals extraction, processing and manufacturing, in support of the technology industry.
- Continuing to improve joint R&D and innovation cooperation in new and emerging technologies.
Automotive and industrial
- Supporting decarbonization projects of Japanese auto manufacturers in Canada.
- Increasing cooperation on industrial applications of science and technology, including battery supply chains.
Defence
- Defence industry collaboration on “frontier technologies”, including artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous systems and space security.
- Strengthening defence-industry supply chains and increasing capital flows into defence sectors.
Energy
- Expanded bilateral trade in liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
- Increasing cooperation in clean-energy technologies, including nuclear, hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, grid modernization and energy-efficient industrial processes.
Food and agricultural products
While the agricultural and food sectors are not referred to in the Joint Statement, they are part of the Strategic Roadmap discussed below, in which the two countries undertake to enhance cooperation and streamline import processes to ensure that Canada can remain a “reliable food security partner” for Japan.
The Strategic Roadmap
Accompanying the Joint Statement is a “Canada-Japan Comprehensive Strategic Roadmap” that sets out an action plan for advancing both the economic and defence/military aspects of the CSP. The Strategic Roadmap focuses primarily on the governmental mechanisms that will be used to ensure that the objectives of the Joint Statements are achieved. It also notes that a Team Canada Trade Mission to Japan will take place in the near future.
[View source.]
