With U.S. ties at their lowest point in modern history, Canada is turning to one of the only countries with which it had even worse relations: China. Canada is forging a “new strategic partnership” with China, its second-biggest trading partner, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday during what he called a “historic” trip to Beijing. That includes a break with the United States on tariffs, which have hit both the Canadian and Chinese economies. Carney, the first Canadian prime minister to visit China since 2017, met with President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People. He is one of a series of world leaders shaken by President Donald Trump’s geopolitical disruptions who are traveling to Beijing as it seeks to exploit U.S. unpredictability to bolster its global influence. For Canada, the Trump administration has been especially head-spinning. “The United States used to be a friend and ally,” Guy Saint-Jacques, a former Canadian ambassador to China, told NBC News in an interview. Now, “we are treated as an enemy.”
As part of an effort to “recalibrate” the relationship, Carney said Canada had agreed to cut its 100% tariff on Chinese electric cars in return for lower tariffs on Canadian farm products. It’s a major shift for Canada, a major auto producer that in 2024 followed the U.S. in imposing the 100% tariff. Carney said Canadians would also be allowed to travel to China visa-free.
Canadian officials say they are seeking to grow non-U.S. trade by at least 50% over the next 10 years. “Further trade engagement with China should first and foremost be seen as diversification away from the United States,” Ong said. About 75% of Canada’s manufactured goods exports go to the U.S., according to government figures. China is the second-largest market at about 4%.
Canada turns to China as Trump's tariffs and threats bring foes together
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Posted by WickedSensitiveCrew
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The orange megalomaniac is Making China Great Again.
Imagine the businesses like Tesla who supported Trump lol
Lowering tariffs to hurt their own industry sounds like a solid plan.
And with all the threats to Greenland the orange dictator is making, Europe will eventually turn to China too haha. Every great empire eventually caves in on itself but this has to be the most comical way to see one go.
Canada has become a socialist country why wouldn’t they partner up with the communists party? They’re the same! 🤷♂️
Canada has completely gone off the rails.
Trudeau gotta be the worst PM in recent Canadian history.
Crazy! Partnering with an authoritarian state that does not respect free speech, human rights, and promotes basically slave labor. That is the direction Canada is heading I guess.
When you think of the perfect US President for the CCP’s goal of state capitalism and authoritarianism worldwide, Donald J. Trump is the ideal and perfect Manchurian candidate.
He is going to arrest foreign leaders and invade neighboring lands? Well, we are just doing the same in Taiwan.
Taking over ownership of major companies in the US? See, our model is being used by Americans why should we follow their pre-Trump model?
Disappearing people in LA, Minneapolis, and Dallas? Why are you so worried about a few labor programs here in China.
The GVRD has been Chinese for 25yrs – nothing to see here. Move along. More propaganda and gaslighting.
Carney managed to score a pretty sweet deal with this one.
Got some of the hard hitting tariffs lifted with canola and agricultural products, meanwhile 49k cars honestly is not even all that much in the grand scheme of things.
Visa free travel, if that apply to tourists, can be pretty amazing.
America is going to be left behind while it continues to threaten allies.
China just reported a trade surplus of $1.2T! Why? Because folks all over the world like a nice price, except for dumbo Donald who thinks Americans should pay a higher price for everything. The US also reported trade deficit of $30B.
Yup China is aggressively courting every country on the globe selling them everything from A to Z! Now it has made a break through with Canada where it’ll buy agricultural products in exchange for 15% tariffs on EVs.
When China finally takes over Taiwan, it’ll have finally achieved its economic goals. Ha ha Donald, you can’t keep a good Chinaman down!
If Canadians think that the Chinese won’t absolutely lay one in their rear they are idiots.
Ok?
Canadian consumers will benefit and so do the Chinese consumers. Canada does not make EVs. China cannot buy enough canola oil and lobsters. That’s why trade is a win-win situation.
I’m glad to be in a very Chinese time in my life.
Bashing Trump is cool i get it (well no i don’t get it) but turning to China is the worst idea ever. China, if not taken down, will slowly but surely destroy western economies.
This seems like a big symbolic geopolitical gesture with little practical impact outside the EV sector. Nobody’s gonna turn back once they get their hands on the genuinely good mass market Chinese EVs, but removing an obviously punitive tariff on a single finished product in exchange for random agriculture concessions doesn’t point towards a big policy shift.
thought China was still salty about Canada kidnapping Meng WenZhou, Huawei CEO, to form this kind of alliance
That EV tariff drop? Wow.
Anyone here play operation anchorage?
Wow a Chinese ally on our border? Isn’t that something we’re invading Greenland to avoid?
Denmark giving Greenland to China would spice things up a bit
A huge reason our relationship was so bad with China was because of the US too.
I mean, I understand why, but it’s fucking depressing as hell that the headline refers to Canada as a “foe.”
I think this is great. Canada should do what it thinks is best for itself. America should do what it is best for itself. EVERY country should do what is best for itself. THAT is how each country should behave. Nothing wrong with that.
How cute Canada
One important note that I think a lot of people are missing. The 49,000 unit cap for Chinese EVs that’s part of this agreement is simply a return to the pre-tariff cap that China was allowed to bring into Canada and represents about 3% of the market. Additionally, the cars that will be allowed to be brought in are sub $35,000 EV‘s, a portion of the Canadian market that is not being filled at all.
USA was taking Canada granted for automobiles. Now got major blow on back. Canadian diplomacy at critical point.
Classic Canadian cowardice
Interesting how frosty Trudeau and Xi were with one another and how it upended relations between the two countries. Add to that, the U.S. instigating things further (see the extradition case of Meng Wanzhou).
But enter Carney and relations are now starting to heal. It also helps that Trump is isolating his country further on the biggest stage. But what I enjoyed the most was how cordial and positive the meeting was between Carney, Xi and their delegates. This is exactly the type of diplomacy that leads to both sides coming out happy and prosperous.
Something Trump and his administration is incapable of ever achieving.
Read up on what happened with Honduras and the China trade for a playbook on what China will exploit.
American exceptionalism is going to be the death of us. The US isn’t the only game in town. China is the future, for better or worse.
Why aren’t EU countries doing this? Screw Trump, let’s just form strategic alliances with other countries.
This isn’t Canada “falling in love” with China so much as hedging: when your biggest partner turns unpredictable, you diversify even if the alternative is messy. The EV tariff swap is mostly leverage and short-term pain relief (farm exports, de-escalation), not a values shift. The U.S. is still economically irreplaceable for Canada, so this is more pressure valve than pivot. And the “Trump makes China great” line is really about credibility: if Washington treats allies like adversaries, Beijing looks “stable” by comparison and gains influence almost for free.
Russian asset
Canada can also join the EU 🇪🇺if the USA don‘t want to have economical conections 😁.