09/08/2026
Japan’s language about Canada has become increasingly strategic, and the relationship now stretches well beyond ordinary trade diplomacy.
In March, Canada and Japan elevated their relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership covering defence, energy, critical minerals, trade and technology.
The two governments also agreed to create an economic-security dialogue aimed at strengthening supply chains for critical minerals and energy resources.
That matters enormously to Japan, an industrial powerhouse that imports much of the energy and raw materials needed to keep its economy running.
Japan was Canada’s fifth-largest merchandise trading partner in 2025, with Canadian exports worth $14.6 billion and imports from Japan worth $21.1 billion.
Japanese investment in Canada had reached $54.8 billion by 2025, making Japan Canada’s largest source of foreign direct investment from the Indo-Pacific.
The partnership is also moving into defence technology, with a new agreement allowing Canadian and Japanese companies to collaborate more closely on equipment, technology and intellectual property.
For a Canadian economy trying to build deeper relationships across the Pacific, Japan is becoming one of the countries worth watching very closely.
(Source: Prime Minister’s Office of Japan, Global Affairs Canada, The Japan Times)
