By Benadeta Mwaura - Reporter
Canada, 12 January 2026 - Canada is on the cusp of a potential reset in its often fraught relationship with China, with Prime Minister Mark Carney preparing to make his first official visit to Beijing in nearly a decade, a trip Ottawa hopes will mark a turning point in diplomatic and trade ties strained by years of tension and tit-for-tat sanctions.
Carney is scheduled to visit China from January 13 to 17, 2026, meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang, among other officials and business leaders, as Canada seeks closer engagement on key issues including trade, agriculture, energy and international security.
The trip, the first by a Canadian prime minister to China since Justin Trudeau visited Beijing in December 2017, comes after what has been described by some officials as “among the worst relations of any Western nation” between Ottawa and Beijing.
The deterioration in ties dates back to 2018, when Canada’s arrest in Vancouver of Meng Wanzhou, a Huawei executive and the daughter of the company’s founder, on a U.S. warrant triggered a harsh backlash.
China responded by detaining two Canadians on espionage charges for nearly three years, fueling public outrage and mistrust in Ottawa.
Relations further soured as both sides slapped tariffs on key exports. Ottawa imposed a 25 per cent duty on certain steel imports from China, while Beijing responded with high tariffs, in some cases over 70%, on Canadian canola, including seafood, deeply affecting Canadian agricultural producers.
In addition, Canada has accused China of interfering in its elections, a charge Beijing has consistently denied.
Trade disputes have intertwined with broader geopolitical concerns, leaving bilateral cooperation in hiatus and Canadian businesses caught in the crossfire.
The October 2025 meeting between Carney and Xi on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea is being cited by Ottawa as a possible turning point in relations, with both leaders agreeing to elevate engagement and explore solutions to long-standing trade frictions.
Xi told Carney that relations have “shown a recovery toward a trend of positive development,” signalling Beijing’s willingness to work with Ottawa to put ties “back on the right track.”
Canada’s foreign ministry said the upcoming talks in Beijing will focus not only on tariff disputes and market access, but also on energy cooperation, agriculture, technology and international security cooperation, areas where both nations see potential mutual benefit.
Beijing has taken additional steps in recent months that observers view as conciliatory.
In late 2025, it reinstated group tours to Canada, a symbolic move seen as a sign of warming public and cultural engagement, and invited senior Canadian officials on trade discussions that could set the stage for deeper cooperation.
China is Canada’s second-largest trading partner, with two-way merchandise trade reaching about C$118.7 billion (US $85.5 billion) in 2024. Meanwhile, Canada remains heavily dependent on the United States, its largest export market and neighbor, but Ottawa has signalled a desire to diversify trade, partly in response to unpredictable U.S. tariffs and political rhetoric that have strained bilateral ties.
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Carney has argued that expanding trade beyond the U.S. could help insulate Canada from external shocks; at one point he outlined a goal to double non-U.S. exports by 2035.
The Beijing visit is seen as a key step in that strategy, particularly for agricultural producers hit by Chinese counter-tariffs.
Not all Canadians support closer engagement with Beijing. Human rights groups have urged Carney to make concerns over China’s record, including issues such as labor rights and repression in Hong Kong, part of his discussions in Beijing.
Human Rights Watch has called for the prime minister to put human rights and rule-of-law issues on the agenda, pointing to long-standing concerns over political freedoms and treatment of dissidents.
Moreover, public sentiment in Canada toward China remains mixed, even warming in recent polls.
A Canadian poll showed rising positive views of China and increased support for lifting tariffs if reciprocal trade barriers are removed, a possible social buffer for diplomatic efforts.
The Canada-China reset is occurring amid shifting global power dynamics. Canada’s relations with the U.S. have hit occasional rough patches, partly due to Trump-era tariffs and rhetoric, prompting some in Ottawa to seek a more diversified diplomatic and trade portfolio.
At the same time, global competition with China over technology, critical minerals and supply chains, highlighted by G7 strategies to reduce dependence on China, adds complexity to bilateral talks.
Carney’s visit to Beijing is widely seen as a litmus test of whether decades of tension can give way to a more balanced and constructive engagement.
For Ottawa, the challenge will be to protect Canadian economic interests and values while navigating geopolitical realities that see both cooperation and competition with Beijing.
The outcomes of the talks, analysts say, could have implications not just for bilateral trade and diplomacy, but for broader discussions on global supply chain alignments and geopolitical alliances in a world where major powers are constantly recalibrating their relationships.
