Canada wants to cancel multibillion-pound arms deal with Saudi Arabia, Justin Trudeau says

Prime minister brands Riyadh's killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi 'unacceptable'

Canada is looking to cancel its multibillion-pound deal selling armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia, prime minister Justin Trudeau has said.

The announcement, made on Sunday in an interview with broadcaster CTV, represents a hardening in tone by the Canadian premier, who had previously warned of large penalties for Ottawa were it to scrap its $13bn (£7.7bn) deal with Riyadh.

“We are engaged with the export permits to try and see if there is a way of no longer exporting these vehicles to Saudi Arabia,” Mr Trudeau said.

He did not give further details, though the prime minister’s office later noted Mr Trudeau has also called the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi “unacceptable”.

Political opponents, citing the murder of Khashoggi and Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the Yemen war, have pressured Mr Trudeau to end the deal for armoured vehicles, which was negotiated by the previous Conservative government.

Last month, Mr Trudeau said Canada could freeze the relevant export permits if it concluded the vehicles, made by the Canadian branch of General Dynamics, had been misused.

Relations between Canada and Saudi Arabia have been tense since a diplomatic dispute over human rights earlier this year.

In September, Riyadh expelled Canada’s ambassador, recalled medical students from the country and curbed investment over tweets made by the Canadian foreign minister criticising Saudi Arabia’s human rights record.

Then, in November, Saudi Arabia was forced to admit it was responsible for the murder of Khashoggi in its consulate in Istanbul.

The killing sparked global outrage and piled pressure on major arms exporters, including the UK, to cancel sales to the Gulf state.

“The murder of a journalist is absolutely unacceptable and that’s why Canada from the very beginning had been demanding answers and solutions on that,” Mr Trudeau said on Sunday.

The Danish, German, Dutch and Finnish governments have all imposed arms embargoes on Saudi Arabia over the ongoing killing of civilians in Yemen.

So far, the British government has resisted joining the international efforts to stem the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe – the UK has sold £4.7bn worth of arms to since 2015.

Additional reporting by Reuters