Trudeau on trade talks with China: No hurry

Canadian leader cites shared stance on climate

BEIJING — Canada has high hopes for a trade agreement with China but won’t rush into negotiations that could affect their economies for generations, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday.

On the second day of a visit to Beijing, Trudeau told reporters Canada was “constantly engaged” on trade issues with China as part of exploratory talks on a pact launched two years ago that have tackled issues such as agricultural exports.

Despite hopes that formal talks on an agreement would be announced during Trudeau’s visit, it appeared that wasn’t going to happen.

“For the past two years, we’ve been working on deepening our trade ties, our opportunities for small businesses, for Canadians to benefit from better access to the Chinese market while standing up for our interests and jobs back home,” Trudeau said.

“This is something that is an ongoing process that we take very seriously and of course we are going to continue to talk about opportunities to benefit Canadians every moment that we have” in China and Canada, he said.

Rather than announcing trade talks, Trudeau touted an agreement with China on the importance of dealing with climate change and upholding the 2015 Paris agreement, despite President Donald Trump’s aim to withdraw the United States from the accord.

“Our shared concern for our environment will continue to be featured prominently in everything we do,” Trudeau said. “Climate change is without a doubt one of the greatest challenges of our time.”

Trudeau met with Chinese President Xi Jinping later Tuesday.

“I’m sure this visit will be a success and inject new vitality into China-canada relations,” Xi told Trudeau.

The lack of a concrete agreement on trade talks drew questions from some in Canada.

“Prime ministers usually don’t go on trips like that without something to announce,” John Manley, CEO of the Business Council of Canada, was quoted as saying by the public Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

After meeting with Premier Li Keqiang on Monday, Trudeau said Canada hopes a trade agreement with China will reflect “Canadian values” in the areas of labor rights, environmental protection and gender equality.

On Tuesday, he reaffirmed Canada’s approach of seeking a durable agreement.