Canada promises trade ban on goods from ‘illegal’ Israeli settlements in new joint statement

Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand during a joint press conference with Mexico's Secretary of Foreign Affairs Roberto Velasco Álvarez in Ottawa on Friday, July 17, 2026. Photo by HYUNGCHEOL PARK /Postmedia

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OTTAWA — Canada says it intends to ban all trade with goods tied to Israeli settlements in the West Bank, joining several European countries in a joint statement promising harsher measures against Israelis the governments say are undermining a two-state solution.

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In the statement, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand and her counterparts in the U.K., France, and nine other countries called on Israel’s government to crack down on settler violence in the West Bank. The 12 foreign ministers also specifically criticized an apartment development, called E1, they said would essentially cut the West Bank territory in half.

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“We firmly oppose actions tantamount to the annexation of Palestinian land and forcible displacement of the Palestinian people,” they said in Tuesday’s statement.

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The territory, seen as a potential part of a future Palestinian state, is controlled by Israel, which refers to it as Judea and Samaria. It is inhabited by hundreds of thousands of Jews and millions of Arabs.

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Anand’s statement said Canada intended to join the European countries in introducing a national trade ban on goods tied to “illegal” settlements in the West Bank, though it did not detail when or how that would happen. The United States ambassador to Israel has also recently criticized Israeli violence in the territory after meeting with Palestinian Americans living there.

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“The Government of Israel must immediately halt the expansion of settlements and civilian administrative powers, ensure accountability for settler violence, and investigate allegations against Israeli forces,” Anand said.

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The promised trade ban is likely to be largely symbolic, though, with very little trade occurring between Israeli settlements and Canada. Now, Global Affairs Canada must figure out how to implement such a trade ban.

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The announcement marks a worsening tone from Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government towards Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government amid deteriorating diplomatic relations between longtime allies.

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The British government went a step further than Canada on Tuesday, accusing Israel of carrying out “ethnic cleansing” in the Palestinian territories.

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“What the Netanyahu government is doing is a stain on the conscience of the world,” U.K. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said in a video.

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Netanyahu has recently claimed some violence in the territory is instigated by Palestinians and that the Israeli attacks are being committed by just a handful of settlers.

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On Tuesday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the decision by Britain and other countries was a “grave miscalculation” that would “fall on the wrong side of history.” He also accused the countries of “gross interference” in Israel’s upcoming elections, where much of the ballot question is Netanyahu’s handling of the country’s safety before and since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack by Hamas.