Prime Minster Carney has been keen from the get-go to reset and improve business relations with China, certainly compared to the frosty (although arguably much more principled) stance of his predecessor, Justin Trudeau. Carney is nothing if not pragmatic, quite happy to throw out one-time priorities like environmentalism in the interests of keeping the voters happy.
In an ideal world, we would not like to be dealing with China at all - it is still a global pariah. What with its human rights record, its aggressive bullying approach to international relations, its unpalatable and corrupt judicial system, its underpayment of workers, its persecution of minorities, its commercial spying, and its political interference, it doesn't really have a whole lot going for it as a trading partner.
But this is far from an ideal world. If it is a choice between Xi Jinping's China and Donald Trump's America - and, like it or not, that's what it has come down to - that decision is becoming an increasingly tough one. Would you prefer to be mauled by a bear or a dragon?
Mr. Carney has been pretty cagey when asked for a definitive opinion - understandably so - but he is maybe starting to indicate a preference for China, at least to some extent. Foreign Minister Anita Anand flew to China just this week to retry and repair the soured Sino-Canadian relations, and there are sogns that Mr. Carney is seeking a face-to-face meeting with Mr. Xi. Everyone seems agreed that such a rapprochement will be far from easy, for a number of different reasons, but that doesn't necessarily mean it should not be attempted.
Maybe that is the right path to take, the lesser of two evils. At least China doing something about its horrendous climate change and pollution record, while the USA under Trump has pulled back from all such policies. And is Trump's enboldened policy of weeding out immigrants any better than China's treatment of its own minorities? And China does make some very good cheap electric vehicles, again whether you like it or not, and they could single-handedly re-start Canada's stalled push towards electrification and emissions reduction, so should we really be refusing them?
China is starting to look like the future, the US like the past. Certainly, it seems to be a stronger advocate for globalization than the USA at the moment.
Mark Carney's softening towards China is apparently in line with Canadian public opinion. According to a recent Angus Reid survey, Canadians have a much more favourable view of China than they had (27% favourable in 2025, compared to just 10% in 2021, and 16% just earlier this year). However, that does means that 59% still view the country negatively. In terms of trade, though - and this is mainly what has changed Canadians' views on China - 51% say that Canada should focus more on its economic relationship with China, up 15% from 2023, and de-emphasize China's poor human rights record in the process. This pragmatism - some might say callousness - matches Mr. Carney's own.
What is the right line to take with China, then? Trump and his tariffs (and the various repercussions of tariffs, intentional and unintentional) have put Canada - and China, for that matter - in a very difficult position. Even back in the Biden days, Canada felt obliged to follow suit and slap a 100% tariff on Chinese EVs (and other, lower, tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum), in the full knowledge that China would not take that lying down. True to form, China immediately slapped tariffs on Canadian and pork.
China has made no bones about its willingness to remove those tariffs if Canada removes its own tariffs on China, which sounds pretty reasonable when you think about it. After all, Canada initiated this (albeit at America's bidding), and we really don't want to be the tariff aggressors here. And, frankly, we don't even have much of an EV industry here to protect. It's hard to be in a situation where China appears to be taking the moral high-road away from us. But you just know that any moves to go soft on China will lead to retaliation from the Trump administration. Rock and a hard place? Game of chicken?
Probably the best option is the one not stated: align more with Europe. Certainly, it's inadvisable - and always was - to put too many eggs in one basket. 75% of Canada's exports go to the USA, and that is never a good idea. There is no time like the present to rectify that situation. And I wouldn't trust China much further than I can throw it. India, ditto. Europe still seems like the most civilized part of the planet right now. Surely, that is the way to go.
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