MONTREAL/TORONTO, April 3 (Reuters) – Canada’s finance minister and his Chinese counterpart discussed supply chain integrity and other trade matters in Beijing on Friday, as the two countries aim to boost trade with each other while facing tariffs and trade friction with the U.S.
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne, who met with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, told reporters he also discussed the impact of geopolitical tensions on the oil and gas market and how China sees Canada as a stable energy supplier.
Sign up here.
“We are becoming a partner of choice,” he said.
The two officials also agreed to hold high-level economic and financial dialogue in the second half of this year, according to an official Chinese summary of the meeting.
Champagne said the discussions centred on the financial services sector but addressed trade in energy and pork, as well as fair labour practices.
“Canada puts a lot of importance on supply chain integrity and that our bilateral trade needs to be conducted in accordance with international standards,” Champagne said.
China is Canada’s second-largest trade partner with about C$120 billion ($86 billion) of bilateral trade. Canada aims to increase its overall exports to China by 50% by 2030.
“Part of my message to the Chinese side was, really, we need to get to a point where we remove these trade irritants,” he said. “I’m leaving Beijing tomorrow with the feeling that we have laid the foundation.”
He said Stellantis would need to live up to its obligations on investments and workers in Canada.
($1 = 1.3934 Canadian dollars)
Reporting By Allison Lampert in Montreal, Ryan Jones in Toronto and the Beijing newsroom; Editing by David Goodman, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Edmund Klamann
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
