Canada will keep exploring trade deal with China

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Speaking after a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, the visiting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in Beijing on Monday that that, if “done properly,” a free trade agreement between Canada and China would benefit both countries and strengthen the middle class.

Li said China remained open to exploring a free trade deal with Canada as part of joint efforts to safeguard world trade liberalization and advance globalization.

“We have an open attitude toward the process of negotiations, and an open attitude towards their contents,” Li said.

“It’s an opportunity that makes sense for Canadian businesses,” Trudeau said at the start of a five-day trip to China. “Canada is and always has been a trading nation. But the landscape of trade is shifting and we need to adjust to it.”

Canada is considering whether to launch free trade deal talks with China, which wants a trade pact similar to the ones it has with Australia and New Zealand.

But Trudeau, aware of domestic unease at the idea, is moving slowly. Although polls consistently show Canadians are split over the merits of a trade deal, Canada needs to diversify exports to offset the possible damage done if the United States pulls out of NAFTA.

Chinese tourists are increasingly joining those from around the world to travel to Canada to witness natural wonders, including the "northern lights."/VCG photo.‍

The two nations reached an agreement on allowing Canadian beef and pork to gain greater access to the Chinese market, as well as further promoting Canadian tourism.

China has been loosening restrictions on beef imports this year, in an attempt to feed the appetite of the country’s growing middle class for more Western food.

China and Canada also signed a joint statement that affirms a commitment to “mitigating the global threat of climate change” and lays out a plan for closer collaboration between governments and enterprises, and to seize the opportunities that arise from pivoting to greener energy consumption patterns.

Earlier on Monday, Trudeau promoted Chinese tourism to Canada at an event held at the headquarters of China’s Twitter-like online media company, Sina Weibo.

Canada has said it will co-host a January meeting with the United States with up to 16 foreign ministers in Vancouver to produce “better ideas” to ease tensions over North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic tests.

Li said he discussed international and regional issues with Trudeau, but did not elaborate.

Source(s): Reuters