James Griffith

Thanks for having me.

Yes, so we just heard from Prime Minister Mark Carney at a press conference in Beijing where he outlined parts of this partnership, which includes allowing 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles into Canada.

On the Chinese side, dropping a large number, a large amount of tariffs on Canadian canola seed and some other agricultural products.

And then also smaller deals on Chinese investment, which hasn't been completely outlined yet, but probably investment targeting the energy sector.

Deals on tourism, including visa-free access for Canadians to travel to China.

It seems fairly significant, especially from the Canadian perspective.

Mr. Carney's made a relatively small concession, which is Canada previously had a 100% tariff on Chinese EVs, which was copying a similar measure in the US that was adopted by the Trudeau government.

And Mr. Carney has reached an agreement where Canada will accept 49,000 Chinese EVs, which was the same as they were accepting in 2023 before those tariffs came into force.

And in return, China is dropping a lot of its tariffs on Canadian canals, which is a far more significant tax.

aspect or segment of Canada's economy.

So Canada is accepting a relatively small amount of Chinese cars in return for China accepting a huge amount of Canadian canola seed.

Mr. Carney estimated probably $7 billion worth of Canadian canola seed.

So as far as we can tell, in the very early digestion of this deal, Mr. Carney seems to have got a pretty good deal for Canada.

No, speaking this afternoon, Mr. Carney said that the relationship has been distant and uncertain for nearly a decade.

And, you know, it really reached an incredible low point during the Trudeau administration, where obviously there was the saga of the two Michaels when China imprisoned two Canadians in an apparent retaliation for Canada arresting the Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.

And that dragged on for several years and, you know, really strained ties between the two countries.

Then there was this trade war that broke out just towards the end of the Trudeau administration.

And, you know, long running tensions over alleged foreign interference by China in Canada.

So this has been a really, really tense relationship, which has really hurt the economic relationship between the two countries.

And, you know, Mr. Carney said, you know, new strategic partnership is the language he's used, he's talking about.