China, Canada leaders hold first formal talks since 2017

Gyeongju, South Korea --- China and Canada's leaders opened on Friday their first formal talks since 2017, with Xi Jinping meeting Prime Minister Mark Carney in South Korea, Chinese state media reported.

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Canada's relations with China are among the worst of any Western nation but both are at the sharp end of Donald Trump's tariff onslaught, even after Xi and the US leader's deal Thursday to dial back tensions.

Ties fell into a deep freeze in 2018 after the arrest of a senior Chinese telecom executive on a US warrant in Vancouver and China's retaliatory detention of two Canadians on espionage charges.

In July, Carney announced an additional 25 percent tariff on steel imports that contain steel melted and poured in China.

Beijing announced the following month it would impose a painful temporary customs duty of 75.8 percent on Canadian canola imports.

Canada is among the world's top producers of canola, an oilseed crop that is used to make cooking oil, animal meal and biodiesel fuel.

But Canada and China have both been heavily targeted by Trump's global trade onslaught.

Trump said on Thursday he would halve fentanyl-related tariffs on China to 10 percent while Xi agreed to keep rare earths flowing and boost imports of US soybeans.