Canada’s other superpower problem

As poor as Canada’s relations with the United States have been under President Donald Trump, they are even worse with the world’s other superpower, China.

- By IAN AUSTEN

The bond between the two nations has been frayed by bitter acrimony and mistrust on both sides.

Canadian citizens have been used as pawns by China, its top leader publicly humiliated a former Canadian prime minister and the two countries are locked in a brutal tariff war. A recent poll showed that the only nation Canadians generally trust less than the United States is China.

Now there is cautious optimism around the first formal meeting since 2017 between the two nations’ leaders.

That a meeting between Prime Minister Mark Carney and Xi Jinping is even taking place is an example of how Trump’s global tariff campaign and unpredictable diplomacy have forced a once close US ally to look to China.

“Trump is the invisible presence in every meeting between two leaders in the world today,” said Roland Paris, an international relations professor at the University of Ottawa. “For Canada, the primary overriding imperative is managing our relations with the United States, our closest trading partner.”

“But if it’s possible to achieve relief on the Chinese tariffs,” he added, “then that would be a great thing.”

Still, there is reason for tempering expectations for the meeting scheduled for Friday in Gyeongju, South Korea, where both leaders are attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

When Justin Trudeau, a Liberal, became prime minister in 2015, relations between the countries had been tense because of persistent criticism of China’s human rights record by the previous Conservative government.

Trudeau made improving the relationship a top priority, but a series of events made it even worse.