OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney hailed a “new era of relations” with China on Thursday as he and a coterie of cabinet ministers signed a flurry of agreements to boost co-operation with the country he once declared to be one of Canada’s greatest geopolitical threats.

A road map for trade and investment

The countries signed a joint “economic and trade co-operation road map” in Beijing, where Carney met Premier Li Qiang and Zhao Leji, chair of the standing committee of the National People’s Congress—the most powerful people in Chinese politics after President Xi Jinping.

“The Canadian side welcomes Chinese investments in Canada in areas such as energy, agriculture, consumer products, and other other sectors,” said the document. China said it wants Canadian investment too, including in services, energy, new materials, aerospace, “modern agriculture” and advanced manufacturing.

They pledged to improve “transparency for foreign investments in accordance with their domestic legal frameworks.” China has long chafed at Ottawa’s restrictions on Chinese investment in Canada. Senior government officials who briefed reporters Monday, on the condition they not be named, said Ottawa would still rely on the Investment Canada Act. In 2022, the federal government used the law to force Chinese state-owned enterprises to divest from three Canadian critical mineral companies, citing national security concerns.

Tariffs still in place

China’s steep tariffs on several Canadian agricultural products—including canola, which is a key export crop for Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta—remain in place. So do Canada’s 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles and 25 per cent duties on steel and aluminum. 

Still, the road map suggests they will try their best to avoid sparking another trade war.

Both Canada and China agreed it is important to work within the rules of the World Trade Organization, it said, and address “challenges through co-operation and constructive consultation, and endeavour to avoid the imposition of unilateral measures in the future.”

Energy

Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with China on “strengthening energy co-operation” that recognizes “Canada as an important potential partner in responsibly produced and reliable global oil, LNG, and LPG supply.” Canadian exports of crude oil to China have been rising since the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion came online in May 2024, especially as China has shifted away from importing U.S. oil. Chinese companies also started buying LNG from Canada after LNG Canada opened its first export facility in Kitimat, B.C., last year.

Canada and China agreed to explore co-operation in low-carbon energy, including renewables such as offshore wind, and agreed to “strengthen co-operation in natural uranium trade,” but also recognized that “conventional energy continues to play an important role in the energy transition.”

Hope for beef?

China has banned imports of Canadian beef since Canada reported a single case of atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in December 2021. The federal government has been stymied in its efforts to break the impasse. On Thursday, both countries agreed to work together better on resolving plant and animal health issues “in a manner based on the most up-to-date scientific information and which is not more trade restrictive than necessary.”

Chris White, president and CEO of the Canadian Meat Advocacy Office in Beijing, said China’s decision to lift its BSE-related ban on Irish beef this week shortly after Ireland’s prime minister visited Beijing, is a reason for optimism. “I’m hopeful, but I’m also a realist,” he said Thursday in an interview with The Logic. “There’s a lot of other moving parts that will affect a decision one way or the other.”