BEIJING — Chinese state media is urging Canada to chart a foreign-policy course independent of the United States as Prime Minister Mark Carney visits Beijing this week, the Associated Press reported.
China’s state-run outlets described the approach as “strategic autonomy” and said Beijing sees an opportunity to peel Canada away from the longtime U.S. ally relationship “at least a bit,” AP reported. The push is tied to China’s view that President Donald Trump’s economic aggression, and now military action, against other countries will erode longstanding U.S. influence over allies.
For its part, the AP said Canada bristled at former U.S. President Joe Biden’s efforts to strengthen relations with Europe, Australia, India, Canada and others to confront China. Now, China’s state media characterized Canada as seeing an opening to loosen ties developed “in lockstep with the United States,” though it said Ottawa remains cautious about how far it will go.
Carney’s focus, AP reported, has been trade. The Canadian prime minister described the trip to China as part of an effort to forge new partnerships around the world to end Canada’s economic reliance on the American market, AP said. The AP also reported that Trump has hit Canadian exports with tariffs and suggested Canada could become America’s 51st state.
The diplomatic backdrop has grown sharper over the past several years, the AP reported. It traced the downturn in relations to the late-2018 arrest of a Chinese tech executive at America’s request and to later actions, including Canada’s 2024 decision to follow Biden’s lead by imposing a 100% tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles. AP said China retaliated for that measure, as well as in response to a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum, with tariffs on Canadian exports including canola, seafood and pork.
As Carney seeks to repair relations, AP said the visit is also linked to the acrimony that marked more than six years under Justin Trudeau. The AP reported that Chinese state-owned media framed the moment as an opening for Ottawa to choose a different path.
In an editorial reported by AP, the state-owned China Daily said, “If the Canadian side reflects on the root causes of the setbacks in bilateral relations over the past few years — the previous Justin Trudeau government’s policies to contain China in lockstep with the United States — it will realize that it can avoid the same outcome by upholding its strategic autonomy in handling China-related issues.” The paper added, “If Ottawa still chooses to subject its China policy to the will of Washington again in the future, it will only render its previous efforts to mend ties with Beijing in vain,” AP said.
AP also reported that the government-run Global Times drew a similar conclusion, saying: “Perhaps it was the heavy price paid for blindly following the U.S. in imposing high tariffs on China that awakened Ottawa’s sense of strategic autonomy.” Canadian officials, AP said, expect Carney’s trip to produce progress on trade but not a definitive elimination of any tariffs.
Chinese experts also pointed to other areas where they said the two countries might find common ground, AP reported. They cited the U.S. military intervention in oil-rich Venezuela that brought President Nicolás Maduro to New York to face charges, along with Trump’s statements about Greenland. Cui Shoujun, a foreign policy and Latin America expert at Renmin University of China, said, “We can also see Canada’s current state of considerable unease towards the U.S.,” and asked, “If the U.S. can claim Greenland, might it then lay claim to Canada?” AP reported.
Cui also predicted, according to AP, that Trump’s move against Maduro would strengthen the strategic autonomy of Latin American countries to resist possible American interference. At the same time, AP reported China remained cautious about how far countries such as Canada could move, citing concerns about China’s growing economic and military clout as well as deep historical and cultural ties to the United States.
Zhu Feng, dean of the School of International Studies at Nanjing University, cautioned AP that the importance of Carney’s visit could be overstated because “Canada is not only a neighbor of the United States but also an ally.” AP reported that, while Trump’s pressure on traditional U.S. partners could open some space for China to expand relations, allies would still need to balance that with continued dependence on U.S. economic and military strength, and it would be “unlikely” that any reliance would end soon.