Betul (Goa), Jan 27 (PTI) In a veiled attack on US President Donald Trump, Canada's Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Tim Hodgson on Tuesday said India's free trade agreement with the European Union is a "perfect" answer to global hegemons that use tariffs and economic integration as tools of coercion.

Stating that Canada is keen to boost energy exports to India in a bid to diversify its customer base and cut dependence on supply to the United States, he said Ottawa will "never use our energy for torture".

Speaking at India Energy Week 2026, Hodgson said the global economy is undergoing a sharp rupture rather than a gradual transition, as major powers move away from a rules-based, multilateral trading system towards a more mercantilist approach.

"What is happening in the world today is not a gradual economic transition. It is a rupture," Hodgson said. "The hegemons of the world have decided the rules-based order is no longer how the world will work." Without naming either the US or Trump, he said, "The hegemons of the world have decided that's not the way the world's going to work anymore." Against this backdrop, he said India's decision to conclude the India-EU trade deal -- described by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the 'mother of all deals' -- sends a strong signal in favour of free trade and trusted partnerships.

"What you just did with the EU signing -- the mother of all deals -- was a perfect example of how to say no," he said.

"We're not going to live in a world where the strongest put tariffs on everyone else. We're going to live in a world where we believe in free trade, where we believe in trusted relationships.

Referring to the stern message Canadian Prime Minister sent out from Davos last week, he said, those were some tough words but truth.

"He spoke what is actually happening in the world today. And what is happening in the world today is not a gradual economic transition. It is a rupture. It is a rupture in the way the global trading system works," he said.

"The rules-based order that we all have been building our economies around, one that was based on multilateralism, one that was based on free trade trade." Without taking any names, he went on to state that "the hegemons of the world have decided that's not the way the world's going to work anymore.

"They've decided the world will work in a much more mercantilist way." Trump is using tariffs on goods coming into US to drive a hard bargain for trade and other deals. He has threatened tariffs on nations that oppose his plans like the takeover of Greenland.

The Canadian minister said he doesn't need to "tell India what it means when people use their economic integration with your country for coercion".

"I don't need to tell you what it means when hegemons use tariffs as leverage," he said.

"I'm here because, like you, the way to resist that change is to build multilateral relationships and to double down on diversification of supplies." Hodgson said that exporting 98 per cent of Canada's energy to the United States was a "strategic blunder", and saw an opportunity to work with India.

Energy security, he said, has moved to the centre of global geopolitics, making diversification of supply chains a strategic priority for countries like India and Canada.

And the way to resist the change is to build multilateral relationships and to double down on diversification of supplies, he said.

Highlighting India as the fastest-growing source of global energy demand, Hodgson said Canada is keen to deepen cooperation across LNG, LPG, oil, uranium and critical minerals.

He noted that Canada holds the world's largest uranium reserves and is expanding export infrastructure to its west coast to reduce dependence on a single market.

Drawing lessons from Europe's experience, he said reliance on a single natural gas supplier proved to be a strategic mistake. "That can never happen again," he said.

"What I hear when I visit places like London or Germany, I hear very clearly 'hey, we made a mistake. We relied on one supplier for natural gas. And that was a very strategic blunder. We can never let that happen again. We need to diversify our supply," he said.

Stating that Canada used to provide 98 per cent of its energy to one customer, the minister said his country is now committed to diversifying supply and sees an opportunity to work with India.

"We believe the world we want to live in is one where we're going to trade with everyone. We will never use our energy for torture," he said. "We believe middle powers should work together to resist." PTI ANZ TRB

India EU free trade pact presented as a strategic response to tariff coercion, urging supply diversification and multilateral ties. India's free trade agreement with the EU is presented as a strategic response to dominant states using tariffs and economic integration as instruments of coercion; the document emphasises that multilateral agreements, diversification of supply chains, and expansion of energy export infrastructure across LNG, LPG, oil, uranium and critical minerals are the primary policy mechanisms to resist mercantilist pressure and preserve commitments to free trade and trusted partnerships.