By Maria Cheng
BEIJING, Jan 15 (Reuters) – Prime Minister Mark Carney hailed on Thursday Canada’s improving ties with China as well as the leadership of President Xi Jinping, declaring that their nations were charting a new course in cooperation at a time of global division and disorder.
The four-day visit to China was the first by a Canadian prime minister since 2017, following up on Carney’s positive meeting with Xi in South Korea in October. The two are set to meet again on Friday.
“We’re heartened by the leadership of President Xi Jinping and the speed with which our relationship has progressed,” Carney told China’s top legislator, Zhao Leji, in a meeting in Beijing.
“It sets the stage for these important discussions on a wide range of issues where we can be strategic partners from energy to agriculture，to people-to-people ties, multilateralism, to issues on security.”
Carney’s optimism follows months of intense re-engagement by both countries aimed at recalibrating ties that had soured under the previous prime minister, Justin Trudeau.
The efforts have also been fuelled by a push to diversify export markets after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Canada last year and suggested the longtime U.S. ally could become his country’s 51st state.
“Our teams have worked hard, addressing trade irritants and creating platforms for new opportunities,” Carney told Premier Li Qiang in a separate meeting.
“I believe that together, we are bringing this relationship back toward where it should be.”
WARMING TIES
Periods of tension in the past decade have roiled ties, most recently after Trudeau’s government imposed tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles in 2024, following similar U.S. curbs.
China retaliated last March with tariffs on more than $2.6 billion of Canadian farm and food products, such as canola oil and meal, leading to a slump of 10.4% in Chinese imports of Canadian goods in 2025, shown in customs data on Wednesday.
Efforts to strike up new dialogue gathered pace since Carney took the helm last year, with top officials of both sides setting up meetings and telephone calls that resulted in the leaders’ October meeting in South Korea.
Canada and China have yet to directly address the issue of the EV and canola tariffs in public, however.
In a trade and economic roadmap signed on Thursday, both committed to “maintaining open channels of communication” to resolve issues on trade in agricultural products.
In the roadmap, Ottawa welcomes Chinese investments in energy, agriculture and consumer products, while Beijing looks forward to Canada’s investment in services, new materials, aerospace, and advanced manufacturing, among other fields.
The pacts provide “an example to the world of cooperation amidst a time globally of division and disorder,” Carney told Zhao.
TENSION UNDER TRUDEAU
Chinese state media had blamed the Trudeau government’s policies to contain China in lockstep with the United States as the chief cause of tension.
“It was pretty tough watching that previous administration,” said Jacob Cooke, chief executive of Beijing-based WPIC Marketing + Technologies, a Canadian company that worked with garment firms Arc’teryx and Lululemon on their China launch.
“We know Carney has got a lot of business experience, and he’s been to China many times,” Cooke told Reuters. “So from the business community’s perspective, we’re very optimistic, we’re confident.”
Since arriving in the Chinese capital on Wednesday, Carney has met senior executives of its business groups, such as EV battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) and China National Petroleum Corp.
He has also met officials of smart wind turbine maker Envision Energy, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, investment firm Primavera Capital Group and e-commerce titan Alibaba.
(Reporting by Maria Cheng; Additional reporting by Joe Cash in Beijing; Writing by Ryan Woo; Editing by Jacqueline Wong, Clarence Fernandez and Aidan Lewis)
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