BEIJING — Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to arrive in China on Wednesday for talks with top leaders aimed at easing a bruising tariff fight and reopening security channels in a relationship frozen for years, in a Mark Carney China visit that Ottawa is framing as economic diversification, Jan. 13, 2026.
The trip comes as Canada’s trade outlook is increasingly uncertain amid tensions with the United States, pushing Carney’s government to court new buyers for energy and agriculture while trying to avoid fresh political blowback at home and abroad, according to Reuters reporting on the visit.
Mark Carney China visit puts canola, crude and EV tariffs in play
Carney’s office has said he will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang, and will press to “elevate engagement” on trade, energy, agriculture and international security, a message repeated in a Prime Minister’s Office release. China’s government has also publicly confirmed the January schedule for the Mark Carney China visit via a Foreign Ministry press briefing.
Substance will matter. Canadian officials have signaled they want movement — if not an immediate end — on Chinese measures hitting Canadian canola, a flagship export for Western provinces. Carney is also expected to raise energy sales, with discussions including the prospect of increasing Canadian crude oil exports to China, Reuters reported. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is traveling with the delegation, his government said in a statement announcing the China meetings.
Beijing, for its part, has linked any broader tariff relief to Canada’s stance on Chinese-made electric vehicles. Carney inherits that file after Ottawa imposed a steep EV tariff under the previous government — a step detailed in a 2024 Reuters report on Canada’s 100% duty. The Mark Carney China visit is expected to test whether either side is willing to trade concessions without appearing to blink.
Security lines remain hard for the Mark Carney China visit
Even if trade talks thaw, security and values will shadow the trip. Canadian officials and analysts have warned that deeper cooperation in sensitive sectors — including advanced technology and critical minerals — could carry national security risks. Rights concerns and allegations of foreign interference remain part of Canada’s domestic debate, issues highlighted in recent coverage by The Associated Press’ report on the visit.
The Mark Carney China visit also lands on a long and contentious timeline. Relations deteriorated sharply after Canada detained Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in 2018, an episode recalled in The Guardian’s contemporaneous report. China later detained Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who were released in 2021 — a turning point described in a 2021 Reuters dispatch.
For Carney, success may look less like a grand bargain than a narrow set of guardrails: limited trade wins, clearer crisis-management channels and a path to keep talking. Whether the Mark Carney China visit delivers that — without triggering political backlash in Canada or pressure from allies — will become clearer once meetings in Beijing begin.
