Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Chinese President Xi Jinping sealed a pivotal trade agreement in Beijing, slashing tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles entering Canada while securing major reductions on Canadian agricultural exports to China. This deal replaces Canada's prior 100% EV duties with a 6.1% rate on 49,000 vehicles annually—increasing to 70,000 over five years—and drops China's canola seed tariffs from 84% to 15% by March 1. It unlocks nearly $3 billion in new export opportunities for Canadian farmers, including canola meal, lobsters, crabs, and peas, amid escalating U.S. trade pressures under President Donald Trump.

The agreement caps a historic reset, marking Carney's first visit to China as prime minister since 2017—the last by Justin Trudeau before relations soured over the 2018 Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou detention and retaliatory imprisonments of two Canadians, all resolved by 2021. Xi hailed their prior October 2025 ASEAN summit meeting as opening a "new chapter," while Carney described the pact as "preliminary but landmark," tailored to "new global realities" like U.S. tariffs and "51st state" rhetoric toward Canada. Carney aims to double non-U.S. exports over the next decade, calling China a more "predictable" partner delivering tangible results.

Domestic pushback emerged from Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who warned of market flooding by cheap Chinese EVs, but Carney countered that the quota equals under 3% of Canada's 1.8 million annual auto sales and anticipates "considerable" Chinese investments in Canadian manufacturing within three years. On human rights, Carney invoked "value-based realism," raising concerns with Xi while affirming Canada's stance on democracy, territorial integrity, and self-determination: "We take the world as it is, not as we wish it to be." The latest January 15 "Canada-China Economic and Trade Cooperation Roadmap" sets up working groups on intellectual property, trade remedies, and an upcoming in-person Economic Partnership meeting, building on 2025 talks.