Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he had “constructive” trade talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and expected the dialogue to deepen over time, as both countries seek to navigate a way out of a tariff conflict.
Ties deteriorated after Canada imposed tariffs on imports of China-made electric vehicles, as well as Chinese steel and aluminium last year. Beijing fought back by levying hefty taxes on Canadian canola imports, but said the tariffs were preliminary, keeping the door open for further dialogue.
Both countries have made efforts to repair ties after US President Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office in January and slapped tariffs on their respective imports.
In June, the Chinese premier told Carney in a phone call that there were no deep-seated conflicts of interest between the two countries.
“There is some alignment of tariffs with the United States, and I will highlight particularly in the steel sector, where we’ve been very clear in the approach that we have taken, and we had an open discussion with the Premier and our Chinese colleagues about that and the reasons for that,” Carney told reporters on Tuesday, after meeting with Li on the sidelines of a U.N. assembly in New York.
