Vietnamese President and Communist Party General Secretary Tô Lâm became the first Vietnamese head of state to set foot in Canada on an official visit, arriving in Ottawa on September 23 and spending September 24 with Prime Minister Mark Carney elevating the two countries' relationship to a full "Strategic Partnership." The upgrade, formalized in a joint statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office, replaces the more limited Comprehensive Partnership the two countries signed in 2017, more than five decades after they first established diplomatic ties in 1973.

The new framework rests on eight pillars covering trade and investment, transportation and supply chains, digital technology and artificial intelligence, energy, food security, defense and law enforcement, and education and cultural exchange. Officials signed five separate memoranda of understanding alongside it, including deals on maritime transport, clean-energy cooperation, environmental protection, food-safety inspection, and an expanded air transport agreement meant to pave the way for direct passenger and cargo flights between the two countries. Two-way merchandise trade now exceeds $20 billion annually, making Canada Vietnam's largest trading partner in Southeast Asia, while agri-food and seafood trade alone hit nearly C$1.7 billion in 2025.

Part of a bigger play

The visit fits squarely into Carney's broader push to knit together a coalition of "middle powers" — countries seeking to diversify trade and supply chains away from heavy dependence on the United States and China, while still leaning on rules-based frameworks like the CPTPP trade bloc. Canada currently imports far more from Vietnam (electronics, apparel, furniture, footwear) than it exports (food, metals, fertilizers), a gap both governments say they want the new partnership to help close through deeper investment ties in aerospace, critical minerals and AI, according to reporting on the visit.

Lâm addressed Parliament Hill during the visit, telling lawmakers:

"IN A VOLATILE WORLD, TRUST, RESPONSIBILITY AND SHARED INTERESTS IN AND OF THEMSELVES ARE STRATEGIC VALUES."

Carney, for his part, teased the flight agreement directly, saying "there will be good news for those who want to travel directly from Canada to Vietnam and back." Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand framed the deal as part of a deliberate strategy, telling reporters that "as the global economy changes, our response is not to turn inward. It is to build partnerships," according to CBC's coverage of the state visit.

The two governments now hand the file to their foreign ministries, which are tasked with drafting a detailed implementation action plan to turn the eight pillars into concrete projects — watch for early movement on the direct-flight route and on critical-minerals and aerospace investment announcements in the coming months.