The CANZUK Indo-Pacific alliance: How the anglosphere rebounded

By James C. Pearce

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney is enjoying something of a long honeymoon. After winning a shock general election, a recent by-election now gives him an actual parliamentary majority.

Before this, his resounding UN speech, detailing meticulously how the rules based international order was over, went viral. It was in this backdrop that Carney decided to prolong his honeymoon in the Indo-Pacific with sky-high approval ratings.

Between January and March, Carney visited China, India, Japan and Australia, building on earlier engagements with Southeast Asian partners in 2025.

It was the first Canadian head of state visit to Australia since 2007 (when I was still in high school), but Carney came away with major gains. He launched negotiations on a bilateral economic partnership as well as a major uranium deal and a novel Canada–India–Australia trilateral initiative.

He also elevated strategic partnerships — including on defence, critical minerals and artificial intelligence governance components.

What really came out of this, though, was the re-emergence of the Anglosphere as a protector of the Indo-Pacific and facilitator of its prosperity.

CANZUK, an informal alliance of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK, has been stepping up its cooperation on trade and defense in the Indo-Pacific region, taking greater interest in the countries which call it home.

Already very close allies, the CANZUK countries are all situated in the Indo-Pacific and share a cultural and linguistic heritage.

But CANZUK is not suddenly interested in the Indo-Pacific due to China’s rise or fears from the fallout of Iran.

Nor is it a particularly novel idea. Rather, it is gaining agency thanks to an Anglosphere cousin who, as of late, has been deeply unreliable and hell bent on trashing the family: the U.S.

For a long time, the populist right in CANZUK countries wondered why ties between them were not closer.

A shared passport has been floated many times, as has fostering a more unique cultural and linguistic space in response to increasingly powerful Muslim countries, China and other emerging markets.

Critics initially saw CANZUK as little more than a populist-right wet dream, born out of Brexit and Trump’s 2016 election. Some in Britain were merely nostalgic for the empire, wanting to get the band back together.

In Australia and New Zealand, it was a response to increased immigration and anti-monarchy sentiment. Others, in all four countries, looked dangerously ideological, oftentimes among racial or ethnic lines.

How times have changed. Rather than a cautionary tale, CANZUK is government policy for the Indo-Pacific – advanced by the left wing parties who rule.

In response to the right’s recent retreat from international trade, caution and gradualism to protectionism, foreign policy hawkishness and bashing international organisation, the left wing parties in power saw that the CANZUK family is not quite so dysfunctional.

In fact, CANZUK has excellent cards when it comes to trade and defense in the Indo-Pacific. 

Trade in goods and services between the UK and Canada reached £31.1 billion in the four quarters to the end of 2025, up 17.2 percent from the previous year.

UK-Australia trade stood at £23.2 billion over the same period, while UK-New Zealand trade totaled £3.9 billion.

Bilateral merchandise trade between Canada and Australia was valued at C$6.1 billion in 2024, and between Canada and New Zealand at C$1.6 billion. Australia and New Zealand, already highly integrated through the long-standing CER agreement, demonstrate how seamless economic cooperation can drive mutual benefits.

But that trade is now expanding across the region. Canada and the UK are part of the Indo-Pacific 12-country CPTPP bloc.

At present, it is on a quest to defend the world trade system, buffeted by the tariff war, having recently signed deals with the EU on e-commerce.

Further trade and investment discussions are also ongoing. Canadian Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu called this “historic” whereas EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič dubbed it an “inspiration for region-to-region cooperation.

Militarily, CANZUK has a formidable global military force. Combining the UK’s global reach and Canada’s, Australia’s and New Zealand’s strategic positions, CANZUK has over 260,000 active-duty personnel and an annual combined defense budget exceeding $140 billion.

ADVERSTISEMENT

As a bloc, it represents the world's third-largest military spender, trailing only the U.S. and China.

The combined naval forces are highly capable of securing maritime routes and deploying forces worldwide.

The Anglosphere realignment shows how we are now seeing the world through a different lens. Traditional middle power allies are an increasingly important part of the picture.

The list of countries that remain interested in stable trade rules, a predictable international environment and the preservation of agency in an era of intensifying great power competition go well beyond democracies.

Amid Trump’s tariffs, regime change attempts in Venezuela, the uncertainty over the Strait of Hormuz and ongoing war in Ukraine, a strong and united Anglosphere looks like a beacon of stability for the Indo-Pacific. No longer a populist pipe dream, CANZUK has become a serious long-term trade and defense strategy for the region.

Subscribe to

our digital

monthly issue