Mark Carney will be heading to China next week, at the invitation of President Xi Jinping. This will mark the first visit to China by a Canadian Prime Minister since Justin Trudeau in 2017, and it comes amid a diplomatic chill between Canada and the United States.
00:03:09.960After they had that bilateral conversation at the APEX Summit, the very next week,
00:03:15.320the Chinese government put Canada back on its list of approved destinations for group tourist travel.
00:03:21.340That's a very economically valuable thing.
00:03:24.120We also know that a couple of weeks later, in mid-November, the Deputy Minister for Global Affairs, David Morrison,
00:03:29.600travelled to China to meet with his counterparts, presumably laying some more track for progress on this visit.
00:03:37.260This whole thing with China didn't happen overnight.
00:03:40.320For months now, Carney has been quietly signalling a shift towards Beijing.
00:03:45.320Talking about re-engagement, stability, expanding cooperation.
00:03:51.000Even as Canada's relations with Washington have been getting more and more hostile.
00:03:54.820You've seen it in the tone, you've seen it in the meetings, and you've seen it in how often Canada sides with Europe
00:04:00.560and other globalist organizations instead of the U.S., even on core security issues.
00:04:06.480But here's the part most people are missing, and this is critical.
00:04:10.080China doesn't separate trade, diplomacy, or security the way Western countries do.
00:04:16.040And that means that any deeper cooperation with them always comes with strings attached.
00:04:20.800So the real question isn't whether Canada is getting closer to China, it's what Ottawa has already given up to make that happen.
00:04:28.640There is some breaking news this hour about Canada and China, the trade war and the long diplomatic chill in relations between Ottawa and Beijing.
00:04:37.800Prime Minister Mark Carney is signalling a new approach this morning.
00:04:41.980Right now, Canada is being squeezed between China and the U.S. in the global trade war.
00:04:47.260China is effectively using tariffs to keep out Canadian canola, pork, and seafood.
00:04:53.080It's an economically punishing retaliation for Canada, following the U.S. in blocking Chinese vehicles, electric vehicles specifically from the Canadian market.
00:05:03.200And for the Prime Minister, thawing relations with China is offering political challenges too,
00:05:08.700over issues like Chinese election interference and Beijing's detention of the two Michaels.
00:05:14.380And this is where the questions come in, because this isn't just a foreign policy story.
00:05:21.420Is Canada actually moving away from the United States, or is Ottawa gambling that it can play both sides without consequences?
00:05:29.100The idea then, when Joe Biden was the U.S. president, was to kind of harmonize our trade regime with the United States with respect to China
00:05:37.020and protect the North American auto industry.
00:05:39.260Well, there's not too much enthusiasm for that anymore.
00:05:42.300So this is things that are going to be really up for discussion when Carney meets with Xi in Beijing next week.
00:05:49.780They're going to be talking about the EV tariffs, whether or not these can be relaxed, changed, also Canadian tariffs on steel,
00:05:56.500and the Chinese retaliatory tariffs that have been very damaging, especially to Western Canadian farmers, on canola, as well as some seafood products.
00:06:05.200So this is kind of the whole thing that's up in the air, and the stakes are very high.
00:06:08.220I mean, we sort of think of America as being our prime trade partner.
00:06:13.160But China is number two, about $118 billion last year just in merchandise trading.
00:06:18.820That's not including services as well.
00:06:20.660So it's a big, big trade relationship, and it has the potential for enormous growth.
00:06:24.380Of course, China wants oil as well, which we have.
00:06:26.720And this all ties into this ongoing negotiation, this discussion between Ottawa and Alberta about creating another pipeline to the West Coast
00:06:34.180that would allow us to export, theoretically, more oil to China.
00:06:38.880And this is, of course, particularly crucial right now, given the situation in Venezuela
00:06:42.800and the uncertainty about how that is going to affect the price for Canadian oil
00:06:46.580if the United States starts importing a lot more Venezuelan oil than they were doing before the arrest of Nicolas Maduro.
00:06:53.740Do you think this security cooperation with China is smart, or is Canada playing with fire here?
00:06:59.960And if Washington does respond, will Canada be ready for what comes next?
00:07:04.340Let me know what you think in the comments.
00:07:06.160And if you want more breakdowns that caught through the noise, like the video we just watched,
00:07:10.920like and subscribe, and I'll see you in the next one.
00:07:23.740Thank you for your support and for making these reports possible.