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Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, meets with Chinese language President Xi Jinping on the Nice Corridor of the Folks in Beijing Friday, Jan. 16, 2026.
Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press/AP
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Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press/AP
BEIJING — Breaking with the USA, Canada has agreed to chop its 100% tariff on Chinese language electrical automobiles in return for decrease tariffs on Canadian farm merchandise, Prime Minister Mark Carney stated Friday.
Carney made the announcement after two days of conferences with Chinese language leaders. He stated there can be an preliminary cap of 49,000 autos on Chinese language EV exports to Canada, rising to 70,000 over 5 years. China will scale back its tariff on canola seeds, a significant Canadian export, from about 84% to about 15%, he instructed reporters.
“It has been a historic and productive two days,” Carney stated, talking outdoors in opposition to the backdrop of a conventional pavilion and a frozen pond at a Beijing park. “We’ve got to know the variations between Canada and different international locations, and focus our efforts to work collectively the place we’re aligned.”
Earlier Friday, he and Chinese language chief Xi Jinping pledged to enhance relations between their two nations after years of acrimony.
Xi instructed Carney in a gathering on the Nice Corridor of the Folks that he’s prepared to proceed working to enhance ties, noting that talks have been underway on restoring and restarting cooperation because the two held an preliminary assembly in October on the sidelines of a regional financial convention in South Korea.
“It may be stated that our assembly final yr opened a brand new chapter in turning China–Canada relations towards enchancment,” China’s prime chief stated.
Carney appears to enhance international governance
Carney, the primary Canadian prime minister to go to China in eight years, stated higher relations would assist enhance a worldwide governance system that he described as “below nice pressure.”
He known as for a brand new relationship “tailored to new international realities” and cooperation in agriculture, power and finance.
These new realities replicate largely the so-called America-first strategy of U.S. President Donald Trump. The tariffs he has imposed have hit each the Canadian and Chinese language economies. Carney, who has met with a number of main Chinese language firms in Beijing, stated forward of his journey that his authorities is targeted on constructing an economic system much less reliant on the U.S. at what he known as “a time of worldwide commerce disruption.”
A Canadian enterprise proprietor in China known as Carney’s go to game-changing, saying it re-establishes dialogue, respect and a framework between the 2 nations.
“These three issues we did not have,” stated Jacob Cooke, the CEO of WPIC Advertising + Applied sciences, which helps exporters navigate the Chinese language market. “The events weren’t speaking for years.”
Canada had been aligned with US on tariffs
Canada had adopted the U.S. in placing tariffs of 100% on EVs from China and 25% on metal and aluminum below former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Carney’s predecessor.
China responded by imposing duties of 100% on Canadian canola oil and meal and 25% on pork and seafood. It added a 75.8% tariff on canola seeds final August. Collectively, the import taxes successfully closed the Chinese language market to Canadian canola, an business group has stated. Total, China’s imports from Canada fell 10.4% final yr to $41.7 billion, in response to Chinese language commerce knowledge.
China is hoping Trump’s stress techniques on allies equivalent to Canada will drive them to pursue a overseas coverage that’s much less aligned with the USA. The U.S. president has instructed Canada may turn into America’s 51st state.
Carney departs China on Saturday and visits Qatar on Sunday earlier than attending the annual gathering of the World Financial Discussion board in Switzerland subsequent week. He’ll meet enterprise leaders and traders in Qatar to advertise commerce and funding, his workplace stated.
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