CALGARY — Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced Canada and Italy are expanding cooperation on supply chains, energy, and defence as he offers Italy priority access to Canada’s critical mineral reserves.Meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Évian, France on Tuesday, Carney reiterated that the two countries had made advances in their bilateral relationship by signing “a couple of very important critical mineral deals” in the “past few months.”These include a recent investment of roughly $100 million by Italian energy company Eni to procure Canadian graphite from Nouveau Monde Graphite’s Matawinie Mine in Québec, Italy becoming a member of the Critical Minerals Production Alliance launched at the 2025 G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis, a Canadian Trade Mission to Italy, and a Canadian Critical Minerals Investment Forum in Italy..Building on this progress, Prime Minister Carney welcomed Italy’s intention to collaborate with Canada to stockpile critical minerals, an official Canadian government statement reads.“These efforts will catalyze further partnerships between the two countries in energy and industry.”The two nations have also entered talks regarding Canada’s purchase of M-346 advanced jet trainer aircraft, which are designed by Leonardo — one of Italy’s largest aerospace companies.The leaders believe this agreement will “enable the Royal Canadian Air Force to train using state-of-the-art equipment and build sovereign training capability.”Canada and Italy’s trade relations have improved in recent years after being underpinned by the Canada–European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which has been provisionally applied since 2017.Bilateral trade between the two countries reached $17.6 billion in 2025, with pharmaceuticals, precious stones and metals, and cereals ranking among the top three products Canada exported to Italy that year.
