Prime Minister Mark Carney must “get results” on tariffs in his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said on Tuesday.
As pressure from the U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war ramps up on Canada, Poilievre said Carney’s meetings with foreign leaders have yielded little in the way of results for Canada.
Poilievre said Canadians expect Carney to get some results from this meeting.
“He needs to come home with tariffs off our farmers and fish harvesters. It’s time for him to keep his promises. It’s time for him to get results,” he said.
Carney will be attending the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in South Korea this week, where he is set to meet with Xi. This will be the first meeting between the leaders of the two countries since Xi met former prime minister Justin Trudeau in 2017.
Sino-Canadian relations soured shortly afterwards, when Canada detained Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou at the behest of American authorities during Trump’s first term in office, and China detained Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor on widely condemned allegations of spying shortly after.
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The meeting between Carney and Xi comes as both nations are locked in a trade war over canola and electric vehicles. In response to Canada’s 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese EVs, Beijing has imposed a 76 per cent tariff on Canadian canola.
Just three years after Canada called China a “disruptive global power,” Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Canada now views Beijing as a strategic partner in a dangerous world.
Anand told The Canadian Press last week that a strategic partnership with China means going beyond allowing individual irritants to strain the entire relationship and permitting Canada to advance its economic and security interests.
“It’s necessary for us to lay the foundation, if we are going to find areas where we can further co-operate,” she said.
Canada’s bilateral merchandise trade with China totalled $118.7 billion last year.
That makes China Canada’s second-largest trading partner after the United States, which recorded $924.4 billion in bilateral merchandise trade with Canada last year.
Carney said last month Canada could “engage deeply” with China on commodities, energy and basic manufacturing, but with guardrails that “left off to the side” anything that could “bridge into national security, privacy” or other matters.
During a Canadian federal election debate back in April, Carney called China “the biggest security threat” facing Canada.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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