Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a deal with China's Xi Jinping on Friday to reduce tariffs on each country's products after the two leaders met in Beijing.
"Canada and China have reached a preliminary but landmark trade agreement to remove trade barriers and reduce tariffs," Carney told a news conference in the Chinese capital.
The first Canadian prime minister to visit since 2017, Carney sought to rebuild ties with his country's second-largest trading partner after the United States following months of diplomatic efforts.
"By March the first, Canada expects that China will lower tariffs on Canadian canola seed. The combined rate of approximately 15 percent... this change represents a significant drop from the current combined tariff levels of 84 percent."
Canada to import 49,000 Chinese EVs at preferential tariff rates: Carney
Canada will allow 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles to be imported under new, preferential tariff rates, Carney said.
"Canada has agreed to allow up to 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles into the Canadian market, with the most favoured nation tariff rate of 6.1 percent," Carney told reporters.
"This is a return to the levels that existed prior to recent trade frictions."
The figure compares with a 100 percent tariff on Chinese electric vehicles imposed by the government of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2024, following similar US penalties. In 2023, China exported 41,678 EVs to Canada.
Trudeau justified the tariff on the grounds of an unfair global market edge for Chinese manufacturers benefiting from state subsidies, a scenario threatening to domestic industry.
