Carney Says Relations With Beijing at ‘Turning Point’ After Xi Meeting, Will Visit China

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Nov 1, 2025 - 11:03 Updated: Nov 1, 2025 - 03:10
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Carney Says Relations With Beijing at ‘Turning Point’ After Xi Meeting, Will Visit China

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Prime Minister Mark Carney says he’s “pleased” with the outcome of his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and “very happy” to have received an invitation to visit China.

Carney and Xi met on Oct. 31 in South Korea as leaders of APEC countries are gathered for a summit. It was the first meeting between Canadian and Chinese leaders since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Beijing in December 2017.

“We now have a turning point in the relationship, a turning point that creates opportunities for Canadian families, for Canadian businesses and Canadian workers, and also creates a path to address current issues,” Carney said after the meeting.

Current issues on trade include Chinese tariffs placed on Canadian agriculture and seafood products in retaliation for Ottawa imposing duties on Chinese steel, aluminum, and electric vehicles.

Aside from trade, relations between the two countries soured in late 2018, when Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was arrested by the RCMP in Vancouver on a U.S. extradition request for fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud. In apparent retaliation, China detained Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor for over 1,000 days.

In recent years, Canadian security bodies have singled out China as the foremost foreign interference threat to Canada’s democracy. Carney echoed this during the election campaign and said that Asian trading partners that share Canadian values “don’t include China.”

The tone appears to have changed as Ottawa seeks to rebuild relations with Beijing and resolve trade issues amid strained ties with the United States.

Carney said after his meeting with Xi that he was “very pleased with the outcome” and that Canadian and Chinese officials have been “instructed to work at pace on issues moving forward,” regarding resolving trade issues and irritants. The prime minister added he had received an invitation from Xi to visit China, which he accepted. No date was provided, but Carney said it would be “soon enough.”

In opening remarks before their closed-door meeting, Carney and Xi both noted 55 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Carney told Xi it was a “pleasure” to meet him again, the first time as prime minister. Carney had interactions with the Chinese leadership before entering politics in his various capacities.

“I had the great pleasure of attending, amongst other meetings in China, the G20 over which you presided, at a time of great hope for the international system,” said Carney. Carney had attended the G20 meeting in China in 2016, while governor of the Bank of England and chairman of the Financial Stability Board.
Carney also interacted with Chinese authorities in his capacity as board chair of Brookfield Asset Management. The company secured a US$276 million loan from the state-owned Bank of China in late 2024 while Carney was at the helm.
Carney also met with Beijing’s mayor in October 2024. A readout from the city government said Carney had expressed a “keen interest” in expanding Brookfield’s business in Beijing.

Meeting Outcomes

A readout of the meeting between Carney and Xi from the Prime Minister’s Office says the two leaders have agreed to renew the relationship in a “pragmatic and constructive way.”

“The leaders also discussed a framework to deepen cooperation across a range of areas – from clean and conventional energy, to agriculture, manufacturing, climate change, and international finance.”

A readout from the Chinese side said China “attaches importance to the Canadian side’s stated desire that it seeks to improve bilateral relations in a pragmatic and constructive manner.” It also calls on Canada to view China in a “correct way.”

“Canada and China share similar views on international affairs,” it adds, noting the two sides should coordinate to “uphold free trade, and advance the reform of the international economic order.”

No specific deal emerged from the Carney-Xi meeting, as opposed to the meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Xi the previous day. Trump said after the meeting that the issue of China tightly controlling rare earth minerals exports had been settled, while his his fentanyl-related tariffs would be halved.

Carney’s meeting with Xi follows a recent visit by Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand to Beijing, after which she said Canada was in a “strategic partnership” with China.

This wording was criticized by Conservatives, who said it appears contradictory with Ottawa previously identifying China as the top security threat.

“Can the minister reconcile these two things, or is this another example of the prime minister saying one thing during the election and doing another after?” Tory MP Michael Chong said in the House of Commons on Oct. 23.

Anand responded that the security of Canadians is always “top of mind” for her government. “At the same time, Canada will continue to become the strongest economy in the G7, and the way we do that is to diversify our supply chains while making sure we protect our citizens at home,” she said.

As part of Ottawa’s push to deepen ties with Beijing, Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald is currently in China until Nov. 3 in a bid to strengthen agricultural cooperation.
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