China, Canada move to reset ties as Carney visits

By Maria Cheng

BEIJING, Jan 15 (Reuters) – China is willing to deepen cooperation with Canada while eliminating “interference”, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Canadian counterpart at a meeting in Beijing on Thursday.

The comments came after Prime Minister Mark Carney’s arrival in the Chinese capital on a four-day state visit, the first by a Canadian head of government in nearly a decade.

Carney is set to meet Premier Li Qiang later on Thursday and President Xi Jinping on Friday.

“China is willing to enhance communication with Canada, foster mutual trust, eliminate interference and deepen cooperation,” Wang, China’s top diplomat, told Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand, who was part of Carney’s delegation.

That would ensure two-way ties keep steady, substantive and robust, the Canadian prime minister’s office cited Wang as telling Anand.

“We’ll make sure that we continue to make progress together in the short and the long term for the benefit of the peoples of both of our countries,” Anand told Wang.

Since a positive encounter in October between Carney and Xi in South Korea, the countries have shown a common desire to turn the page and reset ties following periods of tension in relations since 2017.

The most recent instance of fraught ties was after former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government set tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles in 2024, following similar U.S. curbs.

China retaliated last March with tariffs on more than $2.6 billion of Canadian farm and food products, such as canola oil and meal, leading to a slump of 10.4% in Chinese imports of Canadian goods in 2025, shown in customs data on Wednesday.

Re-engagement with China has also been fuelled by a push to diversify export markets after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Canada last year and suggested the longtime U.S. ally could become his country’s 51st state.

(Reporting by Maria Cheng; Writing by Ryan Woo; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Clarence Fernandez)