Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping attended a meeting in South Korea last year. Carney's trip to China next week will be the first visit by a Canadian prime minister in more than eight years.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Mark Carney will visit China next week, the first trip to the country by a Canadian prime minister in more than eight years, as he seeks to rekindle relations with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The Prime Minister, looking for new export markets because of an increasingly protectionist United States under President Donald Trump, is trying to patch up ties with Beijing after a severe diplomatic rupture and years of Canada barring state-owned Chinese companies from investing or operating here.
It’s a significant pivot for Canada, which only 12 months ago received the final report from a public inquiry into foreign interference by China and other countries. Marie-Josée Hogue, its commissioner, said at the time she wrote the report that China was “the most active perpetrator of foreign interference targeting Canada’s democratic institutions.”
The Prime Minister wants to boost Chinese trade and investment, particularly in the energy sector, and to resolve a painful trade war over tariffs Canada imposed on electric vehicles from China. But his challenge will be cutting deals or opening doors for Chinese investment without alienating Mr. Trump, who expects allies to support his tough-on-China agenda, analysts say.
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Mr. Carney, who last fall praised China as a country “run by engineers,” is looking for new sources of foreign capital as Mr. Trump’s protectionist tariffs on Canadian products have cast a chill over business investment.
The trip will take place just weeks after Mr. Trump’s administration publicly declared its dominance of the Western Hemisphere, seizing Venezuela’s leader, threatening interventions in Cuba, Mexico and Colombia and openly talking of using military force to take Greenland to safeguard it from Russia and China.
“The spectre of Donald Trump is hanging over this trip,” said Janice Gross Stein, the Belzberg professor of conflict management at the University of Toronto. “It’s impossible to understand Canada’s interest in reopening relationships with China without putting it in the context of dealing with an unfriendly United States.”
The Prime Minister will leave for China on Jan. 13, his office said Wednesday. He arrives Jan. 14 and will spend a couple of days there before departing Jan. 17.
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Mr. Carney will meet with Mr. Xi during the trip, as well as Premier Li Qiang, the Prime Minister’s Office said. He will also meet with government and business leaders “to elevate engagement on trade, energy, agriculture, and international security,” it said in a statement.
The last visit a Canadian prime minister made to China was in 2017 when Justin Trudeau met with Mr. Xi but failed to agree on terms to start negotiations on a trade deal.
It’s expected Mr. Carney will later head to the Qatari capital of Doha in the Persian Gulf region, where he is seeking to coax wealthy investors to deploy their capital in Canada. The Prime Minister’s Office, however, could not confirm this stop Wednesday.
Mr. Carney will also attend the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the Prime Minister’s Office said, in hopes of positioning Canada “as a premier destination for global capital and investment, emphasising competitive advantages in natural resources, agriculture, energy, and advanced technologies.”
The Gulf, with its trillions of dollars in investment capital, is one of several priority regions for Canada, along with Europe and Asia, as it seeks to diversify trade. That has made attracting foreign investment in energy, infrastructure, artificial intelligence and resources a high priority.
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Qatar’s fast-growing sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority, has made recent deals in Canada. Last year, the QIA and Montreal-based wealth manager Fiera Capital Corp. launched a $200-million fund for investing in the Gulf state’s stock market. And QIA also bought a US$500-million stake in Vancouver-based Ivanhoe Mines, which has mining projects in southern Africa, demonstrating an interest in critical minerals.
The Doha-based QIA, led by chief executive officer Mohammed Al-Sowaidi, is estimated to manage about US$550-billion and owns stakes in high-profile assets such as London’s Heathrow airport, auto manufacturer Volkswagen and a future Formula 1 car racing team led by Audi.
The Canada-China relationship entered a deep freeze in 2018 after Beijing jailed two Canadians in retaliation for Ottawa arresting a Chinese high-tech executive on an extradition request from Washington.
Mr. Carney and Mr. Xi began a rapprochement at an October meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea. This visit will expand on this new relationship even as Canada maintains 100-per-cent tariffs on Chinese EVs and China keeps punishing levies on Canadian agriculture from canola to seafood.
Mr. Carney is one among many world leaders making their way to China this year. His visit follows a trip by South Korea’s President and comes shortly before an expected visit by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Mr. Trump is anticipated to travel to China in April.
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It remains to be seen whether Mr. Carney will be able to commit to a reduction in the EV tariff rate that would make it substantially easier for the Chinese to sell their vehicles here.
Chris White, president of the Canadian Meat Advocacy Office in Beijing, said there is a benefit to the Prime Minister’s meeting with Mr. Xi regardless of whether a substantial deal can be cut during the visit. It will send a signal to open up co-operation across China’s political apparatus, he said. “China is all about the relationship leader-to-leader, and if Xi feels that he can work with Carney, then that reverberates throughout the whole system.”
Vina Nadjibulla, vice-president of research and strategy at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, cautioned about being clear-eyed about what diplomacy with Beijing can and cannot deliver and the risk that China will weaponize closer relations.
“Carney will focus on economic co-operation including opening up new opportunities in conventional and clean energy, and on managing tariffs on Canadian exports of canola, pork, and seafood. In that sense, the trip could serve Canadian interests,” Ms. Nadjibulla said.
But, she added, China is not simply another large market to be balanced against the U.S. “The Chinese Communist Party routinely conditions market access and economic engagement on silence – or acquiescence – on issues Beijing defines as core interests, including Taiwan,“ she said.