Ed Fast

Once held up as a model global citizen, Canada is facing growing criticism from aid groups over moves to tie foreign assistance to trade through partnerships with mining and other firms.

Two days of face-to-face meetings between Canada's trade minister and his EU counterpart, ending late Thursday, failed to break a deadlock on the last stumbling blocks to reaching a free trade pact.

Two days of face-to-face meetings between Canada's trade minister and his EU counterpart, ending late Thursday, failed to break a deadlock on the last stumbling blocks to reaching a free trade pact.

Canada and EU ministers will hold talks in Brussels next week in an effort to "resolve at the political level" roadblocks to a free trade pact, said officials Thursday.

Canada has become an observer to the Pacific Alliance, a grouping of four of Latin America's fastest-growing economies, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, officials announced Thursday.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Trade Minister Ed Fast will travel to the Philippines and Hong Kong November 10-11, officials said Wednesday.

Canada on Tuesday joined talks aimed at achieving a Pacific free-trade deal, which advocates hope will prove a boon to the region's economy.

A proposal to extend drug patents in Canada as part of a free trade pact being negotiated with the European Union provoked a backlash this week over fears it would push up health care costs.

Canada's schools must stop charging foreign students higher tuition fees than Canadians pay, a government report said Friday in a bid to attract more of the foreigners who have boosted the economy.

Canada claimed a victory on Wednesday in a dispute with the United States over softwood lumber, after a tribunal ruled it had not violated a trade accord by selling beetle-blemished logs at low prices.

Government ministers on Friday set out across Canada to promote a free trade pact with the European Union described as the "most ambitious" deal in Canadian history.

Canada's trade minister is traveling to Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei this week to press for Canada's inclusion in the Trans-Pacific Partnership future free trade zone, his office said Monday.

Foreign investors are showing confidence in Libya new transitional government, Canada's Trade Minister Ed Fast said Monday after completing a three-day trade mission to the country.

WASHINGTON/OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada and the United States extended a bilateral softwood lumber deal by two years to 2015 on Monday, underlining the two nations' close trade ties despite recent disagreements over an oil pipeline.

South Korea on Friday lifted a nine-year ban on Canadian beef, becoming the last big Asian market to do so after a 2003 mad cow (BSE) outbreak, Ottawa announced Friday.

Canada announced the start on Wednesday of a third round of free trade negotiations with India, while eyeing deeper trade ties with Japan in a major push to boost exports to Asia.

A "productive" ninth round of talks toward a trade agreement between Canada and the European Union are due to wrap up on Friday, Canadian Trade Minister Ed Fast said.

Canada's top trade official on Tuesday decried a hint of protectionism in US President Barack Obama's jobs plan, which prohibits Canadian firms from bidding on infrastructure contracts.

Some 25 Canadian and European civil society groups rolled a Trojan horse up to the gates of Canada's parliament Monday to protest a proposed Canada-EU trade pact, as a new round of negotiations kicked off.

Canada said Wednesday it would raise objections to US President Barack Obama's jobs plan, contending the "buy American" provision could go against free trade principles as well as bilateral agreements.