https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/14/global-survey-suggests-trump-is-making-china-not-america-great-again
With U.S. ties at their lowest point in modern history, Canada is turning to one of the only countries with which it had even worse relations: China.
Canada is forging a “new strategic partnership” with China, its second-biggest trading partner, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday during what he called a “historic” trip to Beijing. That includes a break with the United States on tariffs, which have hit both the Canadian and Chinese economies.
Carney, the first Canadian prime minister to visit China since 2017, met with President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People. He is one of a series of world leaders shaken by President Donald Trump’s geopolitical disruptions who are traveling to Beijing as it seeks to exploit U.S. unpredictability to bolster its global influence.
For Canada, the Trump administration has been especially head-spinning.
“The United States used to be a friend and ally,” Guy Saint-Jacques, a former Canadian ambassador to China, told NBC News in an interview. Now, “we are treated as an enemy.”
> As part of an effort to “recalibrate” the relationship, Carney said Canada had agreed to cut its 100% tariff on Chinese electric cars in return for lower tariffs on Canadian farm products. It’s a major shift for Canada, a major auto producer that in 2024 followed the U.S. in imposing the 100% tariff. Carney said Canadians would also be allowed to travel to China visa-free.
> Canadian officials say they are seeking to grow non-U.S. trade by at least 50% over the next 10 years. “Further trade engagement with China should first and foremost be seen as diversification away from the United States,” Ong said. About 75% of Canada’s manufactured goods exports go to the U.S., according to government figures. China is the second-largest market at about 4%.