Internal Trade

Internal trade is pivotal to the growth of businesses in every province and territory, in particular for small and medium sized enterprises. Constant and significant progress has been made in the past years to liberalize trade in Canada, resulting in more access to markets from coast to coast to coast, enhanced labour mobility for workers and less red tape for businesses.

In July 2025, Premiers reiterated their ongoing commitment to facilitate internal trade, taking a collaborative approach to fostering a more open and prosperous economy by improving internal trade and labour mobility and expanding Canadian markets.

Provinces and territories have taken collective and individual action by:

introducing internal trade legislation;
reviewing and removing Party-specific exceptions under the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA);
concluding negotiations to add a chapter on financial services to the CFTA;
expanding opportunities for direct-to-consumer (DTC) alcohol sales;
advancing mutual recognition; and,
improving labour mobility.

Premiers also reiterated their commitment to unlock multilateral, economy-wide mutual recognition and labour mobility, while respecting Québec’s specificity. Premiers look forward to a comprehensive Mutual Recognition Agreement covering all goods, in alignment with the Committee on Internal Trade discussions, with implementation by December 2025.

In order to strengthen and expand market diversification, Premiers committed to their respective governments undertaking at least one trade mission to another province or territory in the coming year. These missions will strengthen pan-Canadian supply chains and foster more trade and investment across Canada.