Ottawa is looking forward to a potential meeting between Prime Minister Mark Carney and Chinese President Xi Jinping during an upcoming summit in South Korea, as revealed by a high-ranking Canadian government official on Thursday. Carney, emphasizing the importance of reestablishing a broad relationship with Beijing following strained relations in recent years, is scheduled to attend an APEC summit in Seoul. He expressed his anticipation of engaging with senior Chinese officials in the near future.
A senior government official stated during a briefing that they are optimistic about a possible meeting between Carney and Xi at APEC and are making preparations accordingly. This comes in the wake of China imposing preliminary anti-dumping duties on Canadian canola imports last August, a year after Canada’s announcement of a 100% tariff on imports of Chinese electric vehicles. Last Friday, senior officials from Canada and China discussed the disputes related to canola and electric vehicles, although no immediate breakthrough was reported.
