Thursday January 15, 2026 | BEIJING, CHINA [Reporting from Canada | Posted at 10:08 am PT]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Prime Minister Mark Carney has met with two top officials in China today, as part of Carney’s first official visit to China.
Tomorrow Carney will meet with the President of China, Xi Jinping and attend an official luncheon.
- Canadian media are travelling with Carney; there will be a press conference on Friday January 16 held in Beijing at 4 pm local time in China.
- Carney will then attend and deliver opening remarks at a gala dinner hosted by the Canada China Business Council.
The work of January 15:
Readouts from the Prime Minister’s Office today are summarized here:
Meeting with Zhao Leji, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China:
- The significance of the first official visit by Carney to revitalize Canada-China relations was noted. Both sides emphasized the importance of ongoing parliamentary exchanges and opportunities for enhanced understanding and communication betwwen the two countries.
- Both leaders underscored their ongoing support for “robust people-to-people relations and cultural exchanges” and say they “welcome engagement to deeper cooperation, expand trade and engage pragmatically”.
- This helps Canada step away from strained interpersonal and political relations of the past nine years or so.
Meeting with Li Qiang, Premier of the People’s Republic of China:
- Both leaders acknowledged the “significant progress in revitalizing Canada-China relations over a series of ministerial and leader-level engagements in recent months”.
- Those meetings are said to have culminated in the first official bilateral visit to China by a Canadian prime minister since 2017.
- Discussions included changes in the global economy, including challenges impacting international trade and global supply chains, and opportunities for Canada and China to cooperate.
- There is now a series of memorandum of understanding (MOU)’s across energy, combating crime, modern wood construction, culture, food safety, and plant and animal health. This is seen as “the foundation for a new strategic partnership”.
- Carney emphasized opportunities for enhanced trade and investment between Canada and China, pointing out potential for greater cooperation in the energy [Reuters news agency says that would be uranium and oil] and agriculture sectors.
- Both sides welcomed the renewal of bliateral engagement across several areas including economic and financial issues, energy, secruity, culture and people-to-people ties.
Mission goals:
Canada’s goals of this trade mission to China include loosening the tensions that have developed over nearly a decade between the two countries, and to open more opportunities for economic trade.
As their population grows, China seems in need of Canada’s energy (oil, uranium) as well as bulk agricultural products.
A key sticking point is the 100% tariff that Canada presently has on EV’s made in China.
In retaliation to that, China several months ago imposed a 100% tariff on Canada’s exports of canola to China.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is on Carney’s visit to China but not Ontario Premier Doug Ford; this may show a leaning toward favouring the big-ag sector over auto-manufacturing (given it’s likely possible that auto-manufacturing can be protected in other ways).
Canada’s push for trade diversification in many parts of the world this past year is in response to now considerable uncertainty around trade with the United States.
None of today’s official readouts from the prime minister’s office mention national security, AI, or digital technology.
Canada in China:
Canada has an embassy in Beijing as well as consulates general in Chongqing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
“We work with China at the federal, provincial, territorial and municipal levels. Areas of engagement include trade and investment, environment and climate change, education and culture, and consular affairs,” says Canada’s federal government.
See the The federal government’s Canada-China Relations webpage.
==== RELATED:
- Carney arrives in China for official visit, balancing domestic economic challenges (January 14, 2026)
- High-level contingent joining Carney on diplomatic trade mission to China (January 12, 2026)
- NEWS SECTIONS: CANADA-NATIONAL | TRADE DIVERSIFICATION