Canada and China struck an initial trade deal on Friday that will slash tariffs on electric vehicles and canola, as both nations promised to tear down trade barriers while forging new strategic ties during Prime Minister Mark Carney's visit.
The first Canadian prime minister to visit China since 2017, Carney is seeking to rebuild ties with his country's second-largest trading partner after the United States following months of diplomatic efforts.
Canada will initially allow in up to 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles at a tariff of 6.1% on most-favoured-nation terms, Carney said after talks with Chinese leaders including President Xi Jinping.
That compares with the 100% tariff on Chinese electric vehicles imposed under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2024, following similar U.S. penalties. In 2023, China exported 41,678 EVs to Canada.
"This is a return to levels prior to recent trade frictions, but under an agreement that promises much more for Canadians," Carney told reporters. He later said the quota would gradually increase, reaching about 70,000 vehicles in five years.
Relaxing EV tariffs diverged from U.S. policy, and some members of U.S. President Donald Trump's cabinet criticised the decision ahead of an expected review of the U.S.-Canada-Mexico trade deal.
But Trump himself expressed support for Carney. "That's what he should be doing. It's a good thing for him to sign a trade deal. If you can get a deal with China, you should do that," Trump told reporters at the White House.
The deals will unlock nearly $3 billion in export orders for Canadian farmers, fish harvesters and processors, Carney said.
China's Commerce Ministry said in a statement China was adjusting anti-dumping measures on canola as well as anti-discrimination measures on some Canadian agricultural and aquatic products in response to Canada lowering EV tariffs.
Carney added that Xi committed to visa-free access for Canadians travelling to China, but did not give details.
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Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has deployed one of its largest ballistic missiles at a newly unveiled underground base on Wednesday (3 February), just two days ahead of mediated nuclear talks with the United States in Muscat, Oman.
An attacker opened fire at the gates of a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in Islamabad on Friday before detonating a suicide bomb that killed at least 31 people in the deadliest assault of its kind in the capital in more than ten years.
If Fars News Agency is to be believed, Iran's neighbours should be on alert. The agency, which reportedly mirrors the views of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), warned Azerbaijan and Türkiye that if the U.S. and Israel attack Iran, they will become "legitimate targets for Tehran."
Winter weather has brought air travel in the German capital to a complete halt, stranding thousands of passengers as severe icing conditions make runways and aircraft unsafe for operation and force authorities to shut down one of Europe’s key transport hubs.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has deployed one of its largest ballistic missiles at a newly unveiled underground base on Wednesday (3 February), just two days ahead of mediated nuclear talks with the United States in Muscat, Oman.
Morocco has evacuated more than 100,000 people from four provinces after heavy rainfall triggered flash floods across several northern regions, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.
Rivers and reservoirs across Spain and Portugal were on the verge of overflowing on Wednesday as a new weather front pounded the Iberian peninsula, compounding damage from last week's Storm Kristin.
Winter weather has brought air travel in the German capital to a complete halt, stranding thousands of passengers as severe icing conditions make runways and aircraft unsafe for operation and force authorities to shut down one of Europe’s key transport hubs.
Israeli tank shelling and airstrikes killed 24 Palestinians including seven children in Gaza on Wednesday (4 February), health officials said, the latest violence to undermine the nearly four-month-old ceasefire.
European Union Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos arrived in Türkiye on Friday for high-level talks centred on the modernisation of the EU-Türkiye Customs Union, which both sides have described as vital to the future of bilateral relations.
Mexico is assessing whether it can resume fuel deliveries to Cuba without triggering U.S. tariffs, as both sides hold frequent talks and Havana warns of worsening shortages.
After months of heightened tension following their war in June 2025 and weeks of escalating mutual threats, Iran and the United States resumed fragile nuclear diplomacy on Friday, as negotiators from both sides held critical mediated talks in Muscat, Oman.
The United States has accused Beijing of conducting a covert nuclear test in 2020, adding fresh strain to already fraught relations as Washington presses for a broader arms control treaty to include China as well as Russia.
A senior Russian military intelligence officer has been rushed to hospital after being shot several times in Moscow, in the latest apparent assassination attempt targeting the country’s top brass since the start of the war in Ukraine.
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