Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney arrives in Beijing, aiming to repair relations with China
ByThe Associated Press
January 14, 2026, 8: 13 AM
BEIJING — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney arrived in Beijing on Wednesday night, beginning a four-day visit designed to repair foundering relations between the two nations as Canada looks to develop relations with countries other than the United States.
It’s the first visit of a Canadian leader to China in nearly a decade. Carney will meet with Premier Li Qiang, his counterpart as head of government, and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
China’s state media has been calling on the Canadian government to set a foreign policy path independent of the United States — what it calls “strategic autonomy.”
Canada has long been one of America’s closest allies, geographically and otherwise. But Beijing is hoping that President Donald Trump’s economic aggression — and, now, military action — against other countries will erode that longstanding relationship. Trump has said, among other things, that Canada could become the 51st U.S. state.
Carney has focused on trade, describing the trip to China as part of a move to forge new partnerships around the world to end Canada’s economic reliance on