Mark Carney Heading To Beijing To Thaw Canada-china Relations

Mark Carney will make his first visit to China as prime minister next week, incentivized to pursue closer relations as President Donald Trump turns America’s aggression toward allies.

The visit signals a drastic change in Canadian foreign policy, which has been hawkish and adversarial against China in recent years over the fallout of a high-profile extradition case linked to the imprisonment of two Canadians.

Carney will arrive in Beijing on Tuesday after accepting an invite from President Xi Jinping last year. The two leaders have shown interest in dropping the retaliatory nature of the bilateral relationship, beginning with addressing thorny trade issues related to canola and electric vehicles.

His trip marks the first time a Canadian prime minister will visit China since 2017, when Justin Trudeau visited the country in a bid to clinch a free-trade agreement.

Trudeau’s efforts were unsuccessful. Chinese negotiators rebuffed Trudeau’s progressive trade agenda that sought protections for women and the environment. And following the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in a Vancouver airport by Canadian authorities executing a U.S. warrant, relations tanked and trade talks dropped.

Pursuing stronger trade ties with China carries some risk for Carney’s government.

There’s a clause in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement that gives parties grounds to terminate the deal if another party enters into a free-trade agreement with a non-market economy such as China.

But Carney’s government isn’t concerned about the provision. A senior Canadian government official told POLITICO that there are other possible trade partnerships Canada can pursue with China that shouldn’t trigger alarm bells in Washington. The official was granted anonymity to speak on internal policy discussions.

Agriculture and environment are two areas in which Canada and China are expected to work out paths toward deals that boost trade.

Carney has acknowledged he hopes to build a foundational relationship with Xi with guardrails on artificial intelligence, critical minerals and defense.