Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney’s China visit is big. What makes it big is as a report in Bloomberg says that Canada has long stuck closely to the US on China policy. Along with historic trade ties, that alignment is now cracking. Canada PM Carney too made it sure that he makes it clear that it is a mutually beneficial relationship. In a series of posts that started from the moment he landed in Beijing, Carney gave updates of his visit. Mark Carney sent a clear message of realignment: China is a “more predictable” trading partner than the US now, requiring stronger ties with Beijing as a “new world order” takes hold. China is Canada’s second largest trading partner after the United States.“A pleasure to meet with President Xi in Beijing. Canada and China are forging a new strategic partnership. We’re leveraging our strengths — focusing on trade, energy, agriculture, seafood, and other areas where we can make massive gains for both our peoples,” wrote Carney on his meeting with Chinese President. “Canada exports over $30 billion in goods and services to China every year. More than 400,000 careers in Canada are supported by this trade relationship. Here in Beijing, I’m meeting with government and business leaders because we want to build on that — opening up new markets and creating new opportunities for Canadian workers and businesses,” Carney wrote in another post.

During Carney’s visit to Beijing, China and Canada reached an initial trade deal that would cut tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles in exchange for lower levies on Canadian canola. For those unaware, Canola, or rapeseed, is crushed to produce cooking oil and other products. Canada’s agreement with China sets an annual quota of 49,000 Chinese EVs eligible to enter Canada at a low tariff rate. It kind of opens Canadian auto market to joint-venture investments by Chinese carmakers, an industry once dominated by Detroit and Germany.

How China-Canada ‘reset attempt’ ended with arrest of Huawei CFO in 2018

Incidentally, Carney and Xi’s joint statement don’t really reset (or signal to reset) the world order for the first time. In 2017, Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau, landed in Beijing with hopes of a “comprehensive” trade deal”. However, that effort quickly fizzled and, 12 months later, Canadian police arrested Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou of one of the China’s biggest technology company Huawei in Vancouver. Meng is the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfe. She was arrested at Vancouver International Airport on a US warrant in December 2018, and indicted on bank and wire fraud charges for allegedly misleading HSBC in 2013 about the telecommunications equipment giant’s business dealings in Iran.Meng’s arrest made China detain two Canadian citizens and leaving the relationship between two countries in tatters.Meng Wanzhou finally flew home to China in September 2021 after reaching an agreement with the US prosecutors to end the bank fraud case against her. Within hours of the news of the deal, two Canadians who were arrested shortly after Meng was taken into custody in December 2018 were reportedly released from Chinese jails. The years-long extradition drama has been a central source of discord in increasingly rocky ties between Beijing and Washington, with Chinese officials signaling that the case needed to be dropped to help end a diplomatic stalemate. In a statement Huawei said, “We look forward to seeing Ms. Meng returning home safely to be reunited with her family. Huawei will continue to defend itself against the allegations in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York.”