Faced with new global challenges, the leaders of China and Canada pledged to improve relations between their two nations after years of acrimony.
Xi Jinping told visiting Prime Minister Mark Carney that he is willing to continue working to improve ties, noting that talks have been underway on restoring and restarting cooperation since the two held an initial meeting in October on the sidelines of a regional economic conference in South Korea.
“It has been a historic and productive two days,” Carney said, delivering a statement to journalists outside a Beijing park yesterday afternoon.
“We have to understand the differences between Canada and other countries, and focus our efforts to work together where we’re aligned.”
“It can be said that our meeting last year opened a new chapter in turning China-Canada relations toward improvement,” China’s top leader said.
Carney, the first Canadian prime minister to visit China in eight years, said better relations would help improve a global governance system that he described as “under great strain”.
He called for a new relationship “adapted to new global realities” and cooperation in agriculture, energy and finance.
Those new realities reflect in large part the so-called America-first approach of US President Donald Trump. The tariffs he has imposed have hit both the Canadian and Chinese economies.
Carney, who has met with several leading Chinese companies in Beijing, said ahead of his trip that his government is focused on building an economy less reliant on the United States at what he called “a time of global trade disruption”.
No announcement was made on tariffs between China and Canada, which is a sticking point in the relationship.
Canada followed the United States in putting tariffs of 100% on EVs from China and 25% on steel and aluminium under former prime minister Justin Trudeau, Carney’s predecessor.
China responded by imposing duties of 100% on Canadian canola oil and meal and 25% on pork and seafood.
It added a 75.8% tariff on canola seeds last August. Collectively, the import taxes effectively closed the Chinese market to Canadian canola, an industry group has said. Overall, China’s imports from Canada fell 10.4% last year to US$41.7bil, according to Chinese trade data.
China is hoping Trump’s pressure tactics on allies such as Canada will drive them to pursue a foreign policy that is less aligned with the United States. — AP
