BEIJING: Faced with new global challenges, the leaders of China and Canada pledged Friday 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 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 US 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 US in putting tariffs of 100 per cent on EVs from China and 25 per cent on steel and aluminum under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Carney's predecessor.
China responded by imposing duties of 100 per cent on Canadian canola oil and meal and 25 per cent on pork and seafood. It added a 75.8 per cent tariff on canola seeds last August. Collectively, the import taxes effectively closed the Chinese market to Canadian canola, an industry group has said.
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. The US president has suggested Canada could become America's 51st state.