MONTREAL: Prime Minister Mark Carney will begin a state visit to China on Tuesday, the first in eight years for a Canadian leader, with the aim of discussing trade and rebuilding ties after years of diplomatic tensions. Chinese President Xi Jinping invited Carney last October during a meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, which Carney described as a &ldquo;turning point&rdquo; in the two nations&rsquo; strained relationship. The Jan. 13-17 trip seeks to &ldquo;strengthen cooperation in the areas of trade, energy, agriculture and international security,&rdquo; a Carney spokeswoman told AFP. &lsquo;Huge step forward&rsquo;&nbsp;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a huge step forward,&rdquo; said Gordon Houlden, a former Canadian diplomat and director of the University of Alberta&#39;s China Institute. Houlden told AFP that if &ldquo;some of the commercial problems that are affecting our exports had a political origin, then solving the political origin may, or should, have some positive effect on the trade.&rdquo; The last Canadian leader to visit China was Justin Trudeau in December 2017. Ties withered in 2018 after the arrest of a senior executive from Chinese tech giant Huawei on a US warrant in Vancouver and China&rsquo;s retaliatory detention of two Canadians on espionage charges. China has also been accused of interfering in Canadian elections in recent years. <h2 style="line-height: 2;">Second-largest trade partner</h2>Carney will meet with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and business leaders to advance trade negotiations, focusing on efforts to attract new investors and secure strategic partnerships. In the face of protectionism and attacks from US President Donald Trump, he will also seek to develop new markets to lessen Canada&rsquo;s economic dependence on its neighbor to the south. China is currently Canada&#39;s second-largest trade partner, with bilateral trade reaching $118.7 billion Canadian dollars ($85.3 billion) in 2024. &ldquo;This visit is important because China is obviously an inescapable superpower,&rdquo; Guy Saint-Jacques, Canada&rsquo;s ambassador to China from 2012-2016, told AFP.<h2 style="line-height: 2;"> </h2><h2 id="isPasted" style="line-height: 2;">&lsquo;The elephant in the room&rsquo;&nbsp;</h2>He said a deal on Chinese energy supplies and electric vehicles was a possible outcome from the talks. But &ldquo;the elephant in the room,&rdquo; he mentioned, is the thorny issue of tariffs. Since the summer of 2024, Ottawa and Beijing have clashed on trade, with Canada imposing tariffs on electric vehicles and Chinese steel, while Beijing has retaliated with levies on agricultural products, including canola. Economic objectives vs security priorities&nbsp;&ldquo;Whatever agreements Canada has with China will be scrutinized in Washington and might have implications&rdquo; for three-way talks with Washington and Mexico on a free trade agreement, set to be renegotiated this year, said Vina Nadjibulla, vice president of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. Carney&#39;s challenge is &ldquo;going to be to advance economic objectives while not sacrificing our national security and economic security priorities,&rdquo; she added. After his trip to Beijing, Carney is scheduled to travel to Qatar for a bilateral visit and then head to Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos.

Americas

The Jan. 13-17 trip seeks to ‘strengthen cooperation in the areas of trade, energy, agriculture and international security,’ a Carney spokeswoman told AFP; bilateral trade reached $118.7 billion Canadian dollars ($85.3 billion) in 2024.

Canada's Carney plans to talk trade, relations during China visit

WASHINGTON: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will meet with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday at a time when one of the world&rsquo;s most durable and amicable alliances has been fractured by Trump&#39;s trade war and annexation threats.&nbsp;Carney&#39;s second visit to the White House comes ahead of a review next year of the free trade agreement, which is critical to Canada&#39;s economy. More than 77% of Canada&#39;s exports go to the US&nbsp;Trump&rsquo;s talk of making Canada the 51st state and his tariffs have Canadians feeling an undeniable sense of betrayal.&nbsp; Relations with Canada&rsquo;s southern neighbor and longtime ally haven&rsquo;t been worse.&nbsp;&ldquo;We&#39;ve had ups and downs, but this is the lowest point in relations that I can recall,&rdquo; said Frank McKenna, a former Canadian ambassador to the United States and current deputy chairman of TD Bank.&nbsp;&ldquo;Canadians aren&#39;t being instructed what to do. They are simply voting with their feet,&quot; he said. &quot;I talk every day to ordinary citizens who are changing their vacation plans, and I talk to large business owners who are moving reward trips away or executive business trips. There is an outright rebellion.&quot;&nbsp;There is fear in Canada over what will happen to the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Carney is looking to get some relief on some sector-specific tariffs, but expectations are low.&nbsp;&ldquo;Improving relations with the White House ahead of the USMCA review is certainly an objective of the trip, but opposition parties and part of the Canadian public will criticize Prime Minister Carney if he doesn&rsquo;t achieve some progress on the tariff front at this stage,&rdquo; said Daniel B&eacute;land, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal.&nbsp;Trump said Monday that he anticipated Carney wanted to use the meeting to discuss trade.&nbsp;&ldquo;I guess he&rsquo;s going to ask about tariffs, because a lot of companies from Canada are moving into the United States,&rdquo; Trump, a Republican, told reporters after signing an executive order related to Alaska. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s losing a lot of companies in Canada.&rdquo;&nbsp;Carney has said the USMCA, which is up for review in 2026, is an advantage for Canada at a time when it is clear that the US is charging for access to its market.&nbsp; Carney has said the commitment of the US to the core of USMCA means that more than 85% of Canada-US trade continues to be free of tariffs.&nbsp; He said the US average tariff rate on Canadian goods is 5.6% and remains the lowest among all its trading partners.&nbsp;But Trump has some sector-specific tariffs on Canada, known as Section 232 tariffs, that are having an impact. There are 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. The ties between the two countries are without parallel. About $2.5 billion (nearly $3.6 billion Canadian) worth of goods and services cross the border each day.&nbsp; Canada is the top export destination for 36 US states. There is close cooperation on defense, border security and law enforcement, and a vast overlap in culture, traditions and pastimes.&nbsp;About 60% of US crude oil imports are from Canada, and 85% of US electricity imports are from Canada.&nbsp;Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the US and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon is eager for and investing in for national security.

Europe

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney met President Donald Trump in Washington on Tuesday to ease tensions over tariffs and trade, as relations between the longtime allies hit a historic low ahead of the 2026 USMCA review.



Articles tagged with "Mark Carney"

Canada's Carney plans to talk trade, relations during China visit

Carney meets Trump to improve strained Canada, US trade relations