Mark Carney met Xi Jinping in Beijing this week, signaling a shift in how Canada wants to play the global game. While Donald Trump pushes more countries away with his “America First” trade rules, Canada is looking for other options.
Carney is the first Canadian prime minister to visit Beijing since 2017. He’s not there for sightseeing. He’s trying to double Canada’s exports to partners outside the U.S. over the next decade.
“We’re forging new partnerships around the world to transform our economy from one that has been reliant on a single trade partner to one that is stronger and more resilient to global shocks,” Carney said before the trip.
Beijing and Ottawa Test a Second Try at Diplomacy
China sees the trip as a chance to flip one of Washington’s closest allies. Xi wants to bring Canada closer while Trump continues to alienate even traditional partners. And there’s history here.
The last time things got heated was back in 2018, when Chinese authorities detained two Canadians. That was after Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s CFO, got arrested in Canada on a U.S. request. Beijing didn’t take that lightly.
Things only started to thaw this past June, when Carney and Premier Li Qiang agreed to set up regular talks again. Carney met Xi again in October at the ASEAN summit.
Now, in Beijing, it looks like both sides want to get serious. China’s foreign minister Wang Yi told Canadian foreign minister Anita Anand that Carney’s visit “is of pivotal and symbolic significance for bilateral relations.” He added that China wants to “strengthen communication with Canada, enhance trust, eliminate interference, deepen co-operation.”
Carney also met with Li again this week and with Zhao Leji, who heads China’s rubber-stamp parliament. He posted on X afterward, thanking Li for the “warm welcome” and said they talked about working together to build “stronger, more sustainable economies.”
Carney said Canada and China have common ground in clean energy, agriculture, and finance.
Zhao Minghao, a professor in Shanghai, said: “Most U.S. allies are doing some de-risking from the U.S., so this is a very important opportunity for China to warm up its ties with Canada.”
Lingering Tensions and Domestic Pressures
But don’t mistake all this smiling for a full reset. There’s still tension. Canada’s spy agency says China interfered in Canadian elections, harassed Chinese-Canadian citizens, especially Hong Kong activists, and is the country’s top cyber threat.
Carney is also under pressure at home. Farmers and fishermen want him to fix the damage from Chinese tariffs slapped on canola, lobsters, and other exports last year. On top of that, Ottawa has been playing hardball too.
Since October 2024, Canada has slapped tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and steel, kicked TikTok’s offices out of the country, and banned cameras made by Hikvision.