As Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney arrives in China, his hosts see an opportunity to peel the longtime US ally away from their rival.<\/b>
\nBeijing: As Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney arrives in China on Wednesday, his hosts see an opportunity to peel the longtime US ally away from their rival, at least a bit.
China\u2019s state media is calling on the Canadian government to set a foreign policy path independent of the United States \u2014 what it calls \u201cstrategic autonomy.\u201d
Canada has long been one of America\u2019s closest allies, geographically and otherwise. But Beijing is hoping that President Donald Trump\u2018s economic aggression \u2014 and, now, military action \u2014 against other countries will erode that longstanding relationship.
The government bristled at former US President Joe Biden\u2019s efforts to strengthen relations with Europe, Australia, India, Canada and others to confront China. Now it sees an opportunity to try to loosen those ties, though it remains cautious about how far that will go.
Carney, for his part, has focused on trade, describing the trip to China as part of a move to forge new partnerships around the world to end Canada\u2019s economic reliance on the American market. Trump has hit Canada with tariffs on its exports to the United States and suggested the vast, resource-rich country could become America\u2019s 51st state.
The Canadian leader, who took office last year, is seeking to revive a relationship with China that was marked with acrimony for more than six years under his predecessor, Justin Trudeau.
The downturn in relations started with the arrest of a Chinese tech executive in late 2018 at America\u2019s request and was fuelled more recently by the Trudeau government\u2019s decision in 2024 to follow Biden\u2019s lead in imposing a 100% tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles.
China has retaliated for both that and a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum with its own tariffs on Canadian exports including canola, seafood and pork.
\u201cIf the Canadian side reflects on the root causes of the setbacks in bilateral relations over the past few years \u2014 the previous Justin Trudeau government\u2019s policies to contain China in lockstep with the United States \u2014 it will realise that it can avoid the same outcome by upholding its strategic autonomy in handling China-related issues,\u201d the state-owned China Daily newspaper wrote in an editorial this week.
\u201cIf Ottawa still chooses to subject its China policy to the will of Washington again in the future, it will only render its previous efforts to mend ties with Beijing in vain,\u201d the English-language paper warned.
The government-run Global Times said: \u201cPerhaps it was the heavy price paid for blindly following the US in imposing high tariffs on China that awakened Ottawa\u2019s sense of strategic autonomy.\u201d
Canadian officials have said they expect Carney\u2019s trip to produce progress on trade but not a definitive elimination of any tariffs.
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