Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney is visiting China for the first time in nearly a decade, seeking to rebuild ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping while the Canadian government tries to reduce the country’s dependence on the United States.
Carney arrives in Beijing on Wednesday as part of a broader effort to respond to worsening relations with Washington and to the effects of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on global trade. Canadian officials said the push reflects Canada’s attempt to “build a more competitive, sustainable and independent economy” as trade disruptions reshape planning for exporters.
In a statement, Carney said, “At a time of global trade disruption, Canada is focused on building a more competitive, sustainable and independent economy.” He also said Canada is “forging new partnerships around the world to transform our economy from one that has been reliant on a single trade partner.”
Carney plans to meet with Xi on Friday and with other Chinese officials before leaving China on Saturday. After the China trip, he is scheduled to visit Qatar and then attend next week’s annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Canadian officials told reporters that the visit is meant to re-energize a dormant strategic partnership. They also said Washington’s intervention in Venezuela has had wide reach, and officials framed the trip as part of a changing set of international relationships.
On trade, Canadian officials said there will be progress on “trade irritants” with Beijing but not a definitive elimination of some tariffs. Carney’s longer-range goal includes doubling Canada’s non-American exports in the next decade, a plan described as facing uncertainty driven in part by Trump’s tariff approach.
The trip also comes with domestic political friction. Two Liberal lawmakers—Helena Jaczek and Marie-France Lalonde—said they were quitting a sponsored trip to Taiwan early “to avoid confusion” about Canada’s China policy as Carney prepares to visit Beijing. In a joint statement, they said returning to Canada was based on “advice from the government,” and that it does not change Canada’s stance on Taiwan.
Opposition Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong said the Liberal lawmakers’ decision was “nothing short of kowtowing to Beijing’s authoritarianism.” China views self-governed Taiwan as its sovereign territory and has said it would take it by force if needed, the report said.
Zhu Feng, the dean of the School of International Studies at China’s Nanjing University, said the visit reflects “the new space for further development in China-Canadian relations under the current U.S. trade protectionism,” but cautioned against overestimating its importance. He said Canada remains a U.S. ally and pointed to shared cultural ties and geography between the two North American countries.
The backdrop includes recent tariff actions and earlier diplomatic strains. Relations deteriorated in late 2018 after Canada detained Chinese telecommunications executive Meng Wanzhou at the request of the United States, which sought her extradition to face American charges. China retaliated by arresting Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor on spying charges, and the report said the three were later released under a deal reached in 2021.
More recently, the report said Canada imposed a 100% tariff on electric vehicles and a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum from China. China responded with tariffs on exports including canola, seafood and pork, and it indicated it would remove some tariffs if Canada drops the 100% charge on EVs.
The report said a state-run editorial in China’s Global Times welcomed Carney’s visit as a new starting point, calling on Canada to lift “unreasonable tariff restrictions” and advance more pragmatic cooperation. It also said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters that China looks forward to the visit as an opportunity to “consolidate the momentum of improvement in China-Canada relations.”
Carney met Xi in late October in South Korea while both attended the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. The report also said he has tried to mend ties with India, where relations deteriorated in 2024 after Canada accused India of involvement in the 2023 killing of a Sikh activist in Canada, leading to diplomatic and trade setbacks. A cautious thaw began last June, and the report said Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand told reporters in November that the two countries would move quickly to advance a trade deal.
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