The Minister of International Trade () is the

minister of the Crown Minister of the Crown is a formal constitutional term used in Commonwealth realms to describe a minister of the reigning sovereign or viceroy. The term indicates that the minister serves at His Majesty's pleasure, and advises the sovereign ...

in the

Canadian Cabinet The Canadian Ministry ( French: ''Conseil des ministres''), colloquially referred to as the Cabinet of Canada (), is a body of ministers of the Crown that, along with the Canadian monarch, and within the tenets of the Westminster system, forms ...

responsible for the federal government's international trade portfolio. Along with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, it is one of two ministers associated with

Global Affairs Canada Global Affairs Canada (GAC; ; AMC)''Global Affairs Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (). is the department of the Government of Canada that ...

. The position is currently held by Maninder Sidhu; the position's official title is currently Minister of International Trade ().

History

The post was first established in 1983 as the Minister for International Trade by the ''Government Organization Act, 1983'', which re-organized various governmental functions and updated the ''Department of External Affairs Act''. The lead responsibility for international trade was reassigned from the Department of Industry to the Department of External Affairs, and the position was created to assist the senior departmental minister, the Secretary of State for External Affairs at the time, in carrying out their responsibilities relating to international trade.

Gerald Regan Gerald Augustine Paul Regan (February 13, 1928 – November 26, 2019) was a Canadian politician (as federal MP and later as Nova Scotia MLA), who served as the 19th premier of Nova Scotia from 1970 to 1978. Early life and education Regan wa ...

, then the Minister of State (International Trade), was appointed to be the first office holder. While the name of the department and the title of the senior departmental minister changed numerous times, this formal title remains unchanged. However the minister has been styled differently since 2006. Starting in 2006, the minister has been styled with a variety of titles. When Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper formed his first government on February 6, 2006, he appointed David Emerson, who was re-elected days earlier as a Liberal candidate, to the office styled Minister of International Trade (along with Minister for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics). Subsequent ministers were styled as Minister of International Trade until 2018, when the position was renamed Minister of International Trade Diversification. In 2019, the portfolio was merged with Small Business and Export Promotion and renamed Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade. In 2021, the role gained additional responsibility for economic development, being renamed Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development. In 2023, the role lost responsibility for small business to the Minister of Small Business, at which point it was renamed Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development, a title it had until 2025, when it lost responsibility for economic development.

Ministers

Key:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minister Of International Trade (Canada) Ministers of trade and commerce of Canada International Trade (Canada)