Why Canada-Belgium trade is still below its potential

The complementarity is the point. Where the relationship is thin, the opportunity is wider. Belgian investment in Canada reached C$6.7 billion in 2023, concentrated in chemicals and logistics. Canadian investment in Belgium was smaller, tilted toward mining services and technology. The asymmetry suggests room for growth on both sides.

CETA's provisional application has been a net positive. The deal removed barriers that once made small-batch cross-border trade uneconomical. Yet some sectors remain underpenetrated. Canadian clean-tech firms, for example, have struggled to navigate Belgian procurement rules at the regional level, where Wallonia and Flanders set their own standards. Belgian food exporters face Canadian supply-management quotas that cap dairy and poultry volumes.

Those frictions do not require a new treaty. They need bilateral working groups, sector-specific agreements and more business-to-business contact. The Canada-EU summit in Brussels later this year is a chance to push that agenda.

A deeper partnership would also serve a strategic purpose. Both countries are mid-sized trading nations that depend on open markets and predictable rules. A stronger Canada-Belgium corridor makes the transatlantic economy less dependent on any single link. The relationship has history on its side. The next phase depends on whether the two sides treat the current numbers as a starting point, not a ceiling.