Norway-Canada trade agreement talks are moving forward after Oslo and Ottawa agreed last week to modernise the current EFTA-Canada deal, a 2008 framework that mainly covers trade in goods and tariffs. The political understanding was announced by Norway’s Ministry of Trade and Industry (Nærings- og fiskeridepartementet) on Sunday, 15 March, after a meeting between Trade and Industry Minister Cecilie Myrseth and Canada’s Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu. The aim is to expand the agreement into areas that now matter more for both economies, including services, investment and public procurement.
Why the Norway-Canada trade agreement is being updated now
The existing agreement between Canada and the EFTA states — Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland — entered into force in 2009, after being signed in 2008. It helped remove tariffs on most industrial goods, but it remains a first-generation trade deal, focused largely on goods rather than the broader commercial links that define current cross-border business.
That gap is now increasingly visible in the relationship between Norway and Canada. In a statement, Myrseth said the old framework no longer reflects today’s economic ties, arguing that businesses on both sides increasingly trade in knowledge, services and investment, not only physical goods. For Norway, the planned update could improve access for domestic companies bidding for Canadian public contracts and make it easier to export services.
Services and public contracts are now at the centre of the deal
The Norwegian government said a modernised agreement could give Norwegian companies more favourable conditions in public tender competitions and create better rules for services exports. This would mark a significant change from the current framework, which does not contain substantial commitments on services, investment or government procurement.
That matters because the bilateral economic relationship is already broader than the existing treaty suggests. According to the Norwegian government, total goods trade between Norway and Canada reached about NOK 27.5 billion (€2.46 billion) in 2025, while total services trade stood at around NOK 19.6 billion (€1.76 billion), including roughly NOK 13.4 billion (€1.20 billion) in Norwegian services exports. Total direct investment between the two countries was about NOK 70.6 billion (€6.33 billion) in 2025, of which Canadian direct investment in Norway accounted for NOK 36.8 billion (€3.30 billion).
A wider Arctic and strategic logic behind closer economic ties
Myrseth linked the trade talks to a broader geopolitical rationale, saying Norway should strengthen economic ties with like-minded countries that share its values and responsibilities in the Arctic. That language fits a wider Nordic and transatlantic trend: trade policy is increasingly being discussed not only in terms of market access, but also in terms of resilience, strategic supply chains and cooperation among democracies.
The push also follows Myrseth’s visit to Canada earlier in March for PDAC, one of the world’s largest mining conferences, where the Norwegian government said it wanted to deepen economic links with Ottawa. In that sense, the trade update is part of a broader attempt to align commercial policy with strategic priorities such as critical minerals, northern development and secure supply networks.
What happens next in EFTA-Canada negotiations
No new treaty text has been published yet, and the governments have not announced a formal negotiation timetable. That means several key questions remain open, including how far Canada and the EFTA states are willing to go on services liberalisation, investment protections, procurement access and possible sustainability provisions.
What is clear is that both sides are reviving a discussion that has existed for years. Canadian government material has previously described the Canada-EFTA agreement as a goods-focused pact designed for later expansion, while EFTA has long listed services, investment and procurement among the areas for future development. The new political agreement between Norway and Canada does not in itself complete that process, but it gives it new momentum.
For Norway, the outcome could matter well beyond tariffs. A broader agreement would better reflect how the two economies already interact, and could strengthen commercial ties between the Nordic region and Canada at a time when Arctic cooperation, economic security and trusted partnerships are becoming more central to trade policy.
