Mark Carney meets Xi Jinping in Beijing for historic China-Canada trade talks

Canadian prime minister Mark Carney told Chinese president Xi Jinping that both nations could build a partnership that brings “historic gains” during his landmark visit to Beijing to hold trade talks.

“We’ll deliver stability, security and prosperity for people on both sides,” he said.

“It is important to start this new strategic partnership at a time of division,” Mr Carney told Mr Xi, calling for focus on areas that can bring “historic gains” for both, such as agriculture, agri-food, energy, and finance.

President Xi hailed a “turnaround of ties” between both nations, which he said was achieved since he met Mr Carney at the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea late last year.

Mr Xi said he was also “pleased” with the months of cooperation between the two countries across various fields.

“The healthy and stable development of China-Canada relations is conducive to world peace, stability, development, and prosperity,” Mr Xi told the visiting prime minister.

Mr Carney arrived in Beijing on Wednesday night for a four-day visit designed to repair ties between the two nations as Canada looks to firm up relations with countries other than the US. It’s the first visit of a Canadian leader to China in nearly a decade.

Canada has long been one of Washington’s closest allies, geographically and otherwise. But Beijing is hoping that president Donald Trump’s economic and military aggression against other countries will erode that longstanding relationship.

Mr Carney has focused on trade, describing the trip to China as part of a move to forge new partnerships around the world to end Canada’s economic reliance on the American market. Mr Trump has hit Canada with tariffs on its exports to the US and suggested the vast, resource-rich country could become America’s 51st state.

The downturn in China and Canada’s relations started with the arrest of a Chinese tech executive in late 2018 at American request and was fuelled more recently by the government of former premier Justin Trudeau, which decided in 2024 to follow then US president Joe Biden’s lead in imposing a 100 per cent tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles.

China has retaliated for both that and a 25 per cent tariff on steel and aluminium with its own tariffs on Canadian exports including canola, seafood and pork.