China urges Canada to break from US influence as Carney visits Beijing

As Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney arrived in China on Wednesday, Beijing signalled it sees an opportunity to draw one of Washington’s closest allies away from US influence, at least partially, amid shifting global trade and geopolitical tensions.China’s state media has openly called on Canada to pursue what it described as “strategic autonomy” in its foreign policy, urging Ottawa to chart an independent course rather than align closely with the United States. The messaging comes as Carney seeks to reset ties with Beijing after years of strained relations.

Canada has long been one of America's closest allies, geographically and otherwise. But Beijing is hoping that US President Donald Trump's economic aggression  and, now, military action against other countries will erode that longstanding relationship. The government bristled at former US President Joe Biden's efforts to strengthen relations with Europe, Australia, India, Canada and others to confront China. Now it sees an opportunity to try to loosen those ties, though it remains cautious about how far that will go. Carney, for his part, has focused on trade, describing the trip to China as part of a move to forge new partnerships around the world to end Canada's economic reliance on the American market. Trump has hit Canada with tariffs on its exports to the United States and suggested the vast, resource-rich country could become America's 51st state. The Canadian leader, who took office last year, is seeking to revive a relationship with China that was marked with acrimony for more than six years under his predecessor, Justin Trudeau. The downturn in relations started with the arrest of a Chinese tech executive in late 2018 at America's request and was fuelled more recently by the Trudeau government's decision in 2024 to follow Biden's lead in imposing a 100% tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles.
China has retaliated for both that and a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum with its own tariffs on Canadian exports including canola, seafood and pork. “If the Canadian side reflects on the root causes of the setbacks in bilateral relations over the past few years the previous Justin Trudeau government's policies to contain China in lockstep with the United States  it will realise that it can avoid the same outcome by upholding its strategic autonomy in handling China-related issues,” the state-owned China Daily newspaper wrote in an editorial this week. “If Ottawa still chooses to subject its China policy to the will of Washington again in the future, it will only render its previous efforts to mend ties with Beijing in vain,” the English-language paper warned. The government-run Global Times said: “Perhaps it was the heavy price paid for blindly following the US in imposing high tariffs on China that awakened Ottawa's sense of strategic autonomy.” Canadian officials have said they expect Carney's trip to produce progress on trade but not a definitive elimination of any tariffs.