Name: Why Canada Is Pivoting to China
Uploaded: 2026-01-20T13:58:55.000Z
Duration: 9 min 28 s
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Last week, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney visited China,

where he and China's President Xi Jinping heralded a new strategic partnership between Canada and China,

cutting tariffs and ending years of frosty relations, and

representing a significant pivot for Canada away from the United States at a time of serious tension in the Western alliance.

Carney justified this recalibration with China as setting Canada up well for the New World Order,

suggesting that Canada's relationship with China has become more predictable than its relationship with the Trump-led US.

So in this video, we're going to explain Carney's pivot to China.

whether it could be the beginning of a wider pro-China shift in the West.

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For context, the Canada-China relationship hit a low in 2018,

after Canada arrested a Huawei executive in Vancouver on a US warrant,

Even after all three were released in a 2021 swap,

And in 2024, Chinese meddling in Canadian politics became a big topic in Canadian discourse.

So against this backdrop, Carney's visit to Beijing, the first for a Canadian prime minister in nearly a decade,

and his pivot to China is particularly notable.

So what did Carney and Xi Jinping actually agree to?

On Friday, Carney announced from Beijing that from 1 March,

Canada would allow the import of 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles at a reduced tariff rate of 6.1%.

Way down from the 100% tariff that Canada had imposed in2024 at the US's behest.

In exchange for this, China will allow visa-free travel for Canadian tourists.

And will remove or reduce its tariffs on a range of Canadian agricultural and seafood products.

Notably, the 100% Chinese tariff on canola meal will be removed.

And the 85% tariff on canola seed will be reduced to 15%.

On top of this, Carney announced a new ambitious goal to increase exports to China by 50% by 2030.

Broader than the specific tariff and visa changes,

Carney and Xi hailed a new strategic partnership for Canada and China, with Carney laying out five key areas:

Clean energy and climate competitiveness, expanding agricultural and food trade,

commitment to multilateralism and strengthening global governance,

deepening public security and safety and strengthening people-to-people ties and culture.

After China levied tariffs on various Canadian products back in 2024,

China's imports of Canadian goods slumped 10.4% in 2025.

This had a significant impact on canola growers, basically shutting off the Chinese market to them.

For reference, Canadian canola exports to China totalled nearly $5 billion in 2024,

making China the second biggest market for Canadian canola products, behind the US.

So China's cutting of its tariffs will be a big relief to Canadian growers and exporters.

Ahead of his trip to China, Carney said that, "At a time of global trade disruption,

Canada is focused on building a more competitive, sustainable, and independent economy,"

adding that "Canada is forging new partnerships to transform our economy from one that has been reliant on a single trade partner

(i.e. the US—although he didn't mention it by name)

to one that is stronger and more resilient to global shocks.”

It's probably fair to say that China is easier to deal with than the Trump-led US in terms of consistency and predictability.

Carney said that Chinese and Canadian governments had been able to engage in candid and consistent frank dialogue,

which leads to a more predictable and effective relationship, and

suggested that the relationship with China was now more predictable than the Canada-US relationship.

Since the beginning of last year, the Trump administration in the US has hit Canada with tariffs on sectors like automotives and metals.

And threatened much more, leaving the future of North American trade pretty uncertain.

Carney has argued that Canada's former economic strengths,

which had been built on close economic ties with the US, had become vulnerable.

So expanding Canada's trade horizons elsewhere is an attempt to mitigate this.

But really, this is about more than trade.

You have to remember that Carney came into office in early 2025

as Trump was not just threatening Canada with tariffs, but

also with threats to its sovereignty and territorial integrity,

repeatedly saying Canada should be annexed as the 51st US state.

So Carney's actions can also be seen as a visible break from the US

and the signalling of an independent Canadian foreign and trade policy.

While this trip was to China, Carney made several international trips last year,

including to places like the UK, France and Germany,

in a bid to deepen Canada's relationship with its European allies.

But while this Chinese partnership might be pragmatic, it's not without risks.

For example, the lowering of tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles is likely to provoke a negative response from Canada's automobile industry.

Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, the home of Canada's auto industry, criticised the move,

saying Carney's government was inviting a flood of cheap, made-in-China electric vehicles

without any real guarantee of equal or immediate investments in Canada's economy,  auto sector or supply chain.

Critics will also point to China's human rights record.

And the fact that Carney's striking of a strategic partnership comes nearly a year after he called China the biggest security threat facing Canada.

But in response to these questions, Carney said he'd made clear Canada's red lines in discussions with Xi.

And in a line that probably sums up his whole approach.

He said, "We take the world as it is - not as we wish it to be."

There's also a risk that Carney's actions provoke a negative response from Trump,

However, so far, Trump doesn't really seem to mind,

saying, "That's OK, that's what you should be doing.

I mean, it's a good thing for him to sign a trade deal.

If you can get a trade deal with China, you should do that, right?"

As a final thing, it would be remiss of us

not to mention that this reflects a broader global trend of countries moving away from the US and towards China.

This shows up most obviously in trade data.

Only a couple of decades ago, the vast majority of countries did more trade with the US than China.

But it's now also showing up in surveys of global public opinion.

A GlobeScan poll from last year, for instance, involving 32,000 respondents,

found that in all 32 countries polled, including the US,

preference for China as the world's leading power had risen,

Similarly, a Pew poll from about the same time

found that the percentage of people in high-income countries who used to be very pro American that have a favourable view of the US has cratered in recent years.

Given this shift, we shouldn't be surprised if Carney, who enjoys solid approval ratings,

inspires other Western leaders to more visibly break from the US and rebuild relations with China.

Now, you're probably looking to follow this story as it develops, but

how are you supposed to keep track of which outlets online are actually trustworthy

and which are just fabricating a false narrative for you to follow?

Well, that's where our sponsor this week, Ground News, comes in.

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