China and Canada announce tariffs aid after a high-stakes assembly | EUROtoday

Chinese chief Xi Jinping and Canadian PM Mark Carney have introduced decrease tariffs, signalling a reset of their nations’ relationship after a key assembly in Beijing.

China is anticipated to decrease levies on Canadian canola oil from 85% to fifteen% by 1 March, whereas Ottawa has agreed to tax Chinese electrical autos on the most-favoured-nation charge, 6.1%, Carney informed reporters.

The deal is a breakthrough after years of strained ties and tit-for-tat levies. Xi hailed the “turnaround” of their relationship however additionally it is a win for Carney, the primary Canadian chief to go to China in practically a decade.

He has been making an attempt to diversify Canadian commerce away from the US, his nation’s greatest buying and selling companion, following the uncertainty brought on by Trump’s on-again-off-again tariffs.

The deal may additionally see extra Chinese investments in Canada, proper on America’s doorstep.

Carney himself appeared to allude to the truth that this was a results of Trump’s tariffs, which have now pushed one of many US’s key allies in direction of its greatest rival.

He informed reporters that Canada’s relationship with China had been extra “predictable” in current months and that he discovered talks with Beijing “realistic and respectful”.

He additionally made clear Ottawa doesn’t agree with Beijing on every thing, including that in his discussions with Xi he made clear Canada’s “red lines”, together with human rights, considerations over election interference and the necessity for “guardrails”.

“We take the world as it is – not as we wish it to be,” he stated when requested about China’s human rights document.

Observers imagine Carney’s go to may set an instance for different nations internationally who’re additionally feeling the ache from Washington’s tariffs.

In distinction, Xi has been making an attempt to indicate that China is a secure world companion and has been urging extra pragmatic ties – within the phrases of Beijing, “a win-win” for all.

And it appears to be working. The South Korean president and the Irish prime minister have each visited Beijing in current weeks. The UK prime minister is anticipated to go to quickly and so is the German Chancellor.

Carney stated the “world has changed dramatically” and the way Canada positions itself “will shape our future for decades to come,” he added.

Earlier in his three-day go to, he had stated that the Canada-China partnership units the 2 nations up for a “new world order”. He later added that the multilateral system had been “eroded, to use a polite term, or undercut”.

As the Chinese and Canadian delegations sat down within the Great Hall of the People on Friday, Xi stated: “The healthy and stable development of China-Canada relations is conducive to world peace, stability, development, and prosperity.”

Tariffs have been a key sticking level between the 2 sides.

In 2024, Canada imposed 100% tariffs on Chinese electrical autos, following comparable US curbs.

Last 12 months, Beijing retaliated with tariffs on greater than $2bn (£1.5bn) of Canadian farm and meals merchandise like canola seed and oil. As a consequence Chinese imports of Canadian items fell by 10% in 2025.

In the deal struck on Friday, Canada will permit solely 49,000 Chinese electrical autos into the Canadian market on the 6.1% tariff charge.

The cap is in response to Canadian automakers’ fears of an inflow of inexpensive Chinese EVs.

As nicely as aid for canola producers, there may also be diminished tariffs on Canadian lobsters, crabs, and peas.

China is Canada’s second-largest buying and selling companion nevertheless it’s nonetheless a good distance behind the US in quantity.

Economic ties with China are more and more essential for Carney. On arrival in Beijing on Wednesday, he met senior executives from distinguished Chinese companies, together with an electrical car battery maker and an power big.

On Thursday the 2 nations signed a number of agreements on power and commerce cooperation.

The go to is a “reset of a relationship” which may be “modest in ambition” however “much more realistic about what we can reasonably obtain”, stated Colin Robertson, a former Canadian diplomat and vice-president on the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.

The final Canadian PM to go to China was Justin Trudeau, who met Xi in Beijing in 2017.

That go to befell earlier than the connection soured in 2018, following Canada’s arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the chief monetary officer on the Chinese tech big Huawai, on the request of the US.

Days later, China detained Canadian residents Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor on espionage expenses – a transfer critics noticed as retaliation for Meng’s arrest, which China denied.

Meng and each Michaels have been launched in 2021.

Ahead of the Carney-Xi assembly, Michael Kovrig wrote on X that the go to shouldn’t simply be about warming ties but additionally “managing leverage”.

Kovrig described Chinese negotiators as “extremely adroit, calculating, and always looking for leverage”.

“That’s why engagement has to be handled with discipline,” he wrote, including that Carney also needs to advocate for Canadians imprisoned in China. There are about 100 of them, in keeping with Canadian media.

Speaking to reporters, Carney was clear that with nations that don’t share the identical values, Ottawa will interact on a “narrower, more specific” method.

“We’re very clear about where we cooperate, where we differ,” he stated, including that Chinese claims over self-governed Taiwan and Hong Kong’s jailed pro-democracy determine Jimmy Lai got here up in “broad discussions”.

Canada and China have “different systems”, he stated, which limits the breadth of their cooperation.

“But to have an effective relationship, we have direct conversations. We don’t grab a megaphone and have the conversations that way.”