The Canadian Prime Minister confirmed he has no intention to open free trade with China after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose 100% tariffs if a trade agreement with China is made.
On Sunday, 25 Jan 2026 GMT+7, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said his country has no plans to enter a free trade agreement with China, following U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to impose 100% import tariffs on Canadian goods if Canada proceeds with a trade deal with China.
Carney stated that the deal he recently made with China was merely a reduction of customs tariffs in certain sectors that Canada had previously imposed on China.
The Canadian leader added that under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), there is a clause prohibiting free trade agreements with non-market economies without prior notification.
"We have no intention to do that with China or any other non-market economies," Carney said. "What we did with China was simply to address some issues that had arisen over the past few years."
In 2024, Canada followed the U.S. by imposing 100% import tariffs on electric vehicles (EVs) from China, as well as 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum, which led China to retaliate with 100% tariffs on Canadian canola oil and canola meal imports and 25% tariffs on pork and seafood.
However, this month, Carney took a different approach from the U.S. During a visit to China, he decided to remove the 100% tariff on Chinese electric vehicles in exchange for China reducing tariffs on Canadian agricultural and fishery products.
Carney noted that initially, imports of Chinese electric vehicles into Canada will be limited to 49,000 units per year, taxed at 6.1%, with the quota increasing to about 70,000 units within five years.
Additionally, Carney said the initial quota for Chinese electric vehicle imports represents only about 3% of the total annual vehicle sales of 1.8 million units in Canada, and in exchange, China is expected to begin investing in Canada's automotive industry within three years.
These remarks from the Canadian Prime Minister came after, on Saturday (24 Jan), Trump posted a threatening message on social media, saying that if Carney "intends to make Canada a 'distribution hub' for China to send goods and products into the U.S., he is making a huge mistake."
Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on ABC’s This Week program, "We will not allow Canada to become a channel for cheap Chinese goods flooding into the U.S."
"We have the USMCA agreement, but based on that agreement, which is due for renegotiation this summer, I’m not sure what Prime Minister Carney is doing other than trying to create a false image for his globalist friends at the Davos forum," he added.
Carney has emerged as a leader of the movement urging countries to connect in order to counterbalance U.S. power under Trump’s leadership. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he said, "Major powers must cooperate because if you are not at the negotiating table, you are simply on the menu."
He also condemned major powers for weaponizing economic integration and using customs tariffs as leverage in negotiations, earning widespread praise and attention.
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Source:The Guardian