Politics
Will China and Canada ease their tariffs? What’s at stake in Carney visit TenX News
With U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs forcing Canada to seek other trading partners, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit to China is raising questions about whether some tariffs between Beijing and Ottawa could soon ease in what one expert is calling a “test” for where relations may go.
Canada’s rocky relationship with China has spanned several years, and pre-dates the global trade war sparked by Trump’s tariffs.
But recent diplomatic tension, including the arbitrary detention of two Canadians as well as the executions last year of four Canadians by Beijing, coupled with pressure from the U.S. for allies to crack down on trade with China have spurred rounds of tariffs between Canada and China covering industries like agriculture and electric vehicles.
Carney’s trip comes just days after an Ipsos poll done exclusively for Global News found 54 per cent of Canadians support closer trade ties and economic agreements with China.
“This visit by Carney to China is also a test. It’s very sensitive. It’s to test the Canadian public, also to test the U.S. reaction,” says Howard Lin, a professor emeritus and the founding director of the Canada-China Institute for Business and Development at Toronto Metropolitan University.
Some experts suggest that these meetings are a strategy by Carney to add pressure on Trump to come to the bargaining table and renew or negotiate an alternative to the Canada-United States-Mexico Trade Agreement (CUSMA), which is up for renegotiation this year.
Trump said earlier this week “it wouldn’t matter to me” if the current trade deal were to expire.
Here’s a look at where things stand ahead of Carney’s meetings with Chinese leaders.
Why there are tariffs between Canada and China?
Relations between the two countries have been strained for nearly a decade.
The most recent chapter of strain began in 2018, during Trump’s first term, when the RCMP arrested then-Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver at the behest of American authorities.
Canada has an extradition agreement with the U.S.
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At the time, Wanzhou was an executive at the China-based global telecommunications technology company and was wanted in the United States on international fraud charges.
About a week later, China arrested two Canadians, who became known as the two Michaels, and would later be held on widely condemned charges of espionage and held for several years in China.
“Since the two Michaels situation, there’s been trouble with trade to China. That was completely unacceptable, a diplomat was kidnapped. And so I’m not really sure what’s changed. The same people are in power, the same economic conditions with China are still around,” says Kevin Bryan, an associate professor of strategic management at the University of Toronto.
“It’s not like we’re trying to increase trade to Sweden. We’re trying to increase trade to China, where we recently had serious economic espionage and serious geopolitical issues with that country.”
Carney has vowed to double non-U.S. exports over the next decade — and China is the world’s second-largest economy.
“For Canada, this is kind of a pragmatic economic engagement, a reset. We have sectors like agriculture, which are really eager to re-enter the Chinese market,” says Lin.
“China’s objective is a little bit different. I think they would consider this visit as a strategic diplomatic win because in this political landscape, China wants to see they’re not totally isolated and considered a responsible partner that can be talked with.”
What tariffs are in place now?
In October 2024, Canada began imposing a 100 per cent tariff on all imported electric and hybrid-electric vehicles produced in China, mirroring measures taken by the U.S. amid concerns about heavy Chinese subsidies and industrial dumping.
Canada also has a 25 per cent tariff on Chinese steel and aluminum over similar concerns.
China retaliated to those moves with duties of their own. Shortly after Canada imposed those tariffs, China began investigating Canadian canola imports on similar claims of dumping.
Dumping in the context of exporting refers to when a business artificially lowers the price of its products to be significantly lower than its own domestic pricing standards.
The theory is by doing this, one nation’s industry can undermine that of another nation’s and make it difficult to compete with those products being imported.
In March 2025, China imposed a 100 per cent tariff on Canadian canola oil, canola meal and peas.
This was in addition to a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian pork and seafood products.
In August 2025, China also added a nearly 76 per cent tariff on canola seed.
China is the world’s largest importer of canola oil and canola products, with nearly all of it coming from Canada. The Canadian canola industry generates more than $43 billion per year and employs about 200,000 workers, which have been given some financial supports from the federal government in the interim.
Carney is being joined by Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe in China, as canola farmers from the Prairie province say they are hopeful for some relief to their industry.
What could come from Carney’s meetings
Canola tariffs are widely expected to be among the items on the agenda for the meetings.
But experts caution that Carney may have to offer some concessions to get any shifts from China.
Lin says it’s “almost guaranteed that China will reopen the agriculture market.”
“Western Canada is really a strong voice for a normalized relationship with China, and China will use that to argue that concession to be made from the Canadian side and then they’ll say, ‘what can we get?‘
“Maybe we just export more oil, or even clean energy. The Chinese are really focused on electric cars, steel and aluminum, but these things are very sensitive.“
Dropping tariffs on Chinese EVs or steel and aluminum could be politically challenging, given U.S. focus on those industries and the push from the administration for countries to crack down.
The United States, and Trump himself will likely be paying close attention, and Bryan says “there’s a risk” that whatever comes from these meetings may affect the future of CUSMA.
There may still be other ways for Carney to build a bridge with Beijing.
Chinese media also suggested this week that in order to mend ties between Canada and China, Canada will need to represent itself independently from the U.S.
Lin says Carney and his team need to be “cautious” at these meetings given the stakes.
“It’s kind of interesting that President Trump seems to have an American-only kind of attitude recently. He even said the trade agreement between the U.S., Canada and Mexico, ‘I don’t now if that matters’ or something. So, I think he has his own plan,” says Lin.
“I think Carney has to be cautious to say what we’ve got to say, because Canada still has a disagreement on the other front.”
Politics
Sick astronaut returns to Earth with crew in NASA’s 1st medical evacuation – National TenX News
An ailing astronaut returned to Earth with three others on Thursday, ending their space station mission more than a month early in NASA’s first medical evacuation.
SpaceX guided the capsule to a middle-of-the-night splashdown in the Pacific near San Diego, less than 11 hours after the astronauts exited the International Space Station. Their first stop was a hospital for an overnight stay.
“Obviously, we took this action (early return) because it was a serious medical condition,” NASA’s new administrator Jared Isaacman said following splashdown. “The astronaut in question is fine right now, in good spirits and going through the proper medical checks.”
It was an unexpected finish to a mission that began in August and left the orbiting lab with only one American and two Russians on board. NASA and SpaceX said they would try to move up the launch of a fresh crew of four; liftoff is currently targeted for mid-February.
NASA’s Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke were joined on the return by Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov. Officials have refused to identify the astronaut who developed the health problem last week or explain what happened, citing medical privacy.
Support teams onboard the SpaceX recovery ship SHANNON work around the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft shortly after it landed off the coast of Long Beach, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026.
NASA via AP
While the astronaut was stable in orbit, NASA wanted them back on Earth as soon as possible to receive proper care and diagnostic testing. The entry and splashdown required no special changes or accommodations, officials said, and the recovery ship had its usual allotment of medical experts on board.
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The astronauts emerged from the capsule, one by one, within an hour of splashdown. They were helped onto reclining cots and then whisked away for standard medical checks, waving to the cameras. Isaacman monitored the action from Mission Control in Houston, along with the crew’s families.
NASA decided a few days ago to take the entire crew straight to a San Diego-area hospital following splashdown and even practiced helicopter runs there from the recovery ship. The astronaut in question will receive in-depth medical checks before flying with the rest of the crew back to Houston on Friday, assuming everyone is well enough. Platonov’s return to Moscow was unclear.
NASA stressed repeatedly over the past week that this was not an emergency. The astronaut fell sick or was injured on Jan. 7, prompting NASA to call off the next day’s spacewalk by Cardman and Fincke, and ultimately resulting in the early return. It was the first time NASA cut short a spaceflight for medical reasons. The Russians had done so decades ago.
Spacewalk preparations did not lead to the medical situation, Isaacman noted, but for anything else, “it would be very premature to draw any conclusions or close any doors at this point.” It’s unknown whether the same thing could have happened on Earth, he added.
The space station has gotten by with three astronauts before, sometimes even with just two. NASA said it will be unable to perform a spacewalk, even for an emergency, until the arrival of the next crew, which has two Americans, one French and one Russian astronaut.
This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows NASA astronaut Mike Fincke getting helped out of the SpaceX Crew-11 capsule.
NASA via AP
Isaacman said it’s too soon to know whether the launch of station reinforcements will take priority over the agency’s first moonshot with astronauts in more than a half-century. The moon rocket moves to the pad this weekend at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, with a fueling test to be conducted by early next month. Until all that is completed, a launch date cannot be confirmed; the earliest the moon flyaround could take off is Feb. 6.
For now, NASA is working in parallel on both missions, with limited overlap of personnel, according to Isaacman.
“If it comes down to a point in time to where we have to deconflict between two human spaceflight missions, that is a very good problem to have at NASA,” he told reporters.
© 2026 The Canadian Press
Troops from several European countries, including France, Germany, the UK, Norway and Sweden, are arriving in Greenland in a show of support for Denmark as talks between representatives of Denmark, Greenland and the U.S. on Wednesday highlighted “fundamental disagreement” between the Trump administration and European allies on the future of the Arctic island.
Denmark announced it would increase its military presence in Greenland on Wednesday and several European partners started sending symbolic numbers of troops on that day, just as the Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers were preparing to meet with White House representatives in Washington.
The troop movements were intended to portray unity among Europeans and send a signal to U.S. President Donald Trump that an American takeover of Greenland is not necessary as NATO together can safeguard the security of the Arctic region amid rising Russian and Chinese interest.
“The first French military elements are already en route” and “others will follow,” French President Emmanuel Macron announced Wednesday, as French authorities said about 15 soldiers from the mountain infantry unit were already in Nuuk for a military exercise.
Germany will deploy a reconnaissance team of 13 personnel to Greenland on Thursday, its Defence Ministry said.
On Thursday, Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said the intention was “to establish a more permanent military presence with a larger Danish contribution,” according to Danish broadcaster DR. He said soldiers from several NATO countries will be in Greenland on a rotation system.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, flanked by his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt, said Wednesday that a “fundamental disagreement” over Greenland remains with Trump after they held highly anticipated talks at the White House with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Rasmussen added that it remains “clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland” but that dialogue with the U.S. would continue at a high level over the following weeks.
Inhabitants of Greenland and Denmark reacted with anxiety but also some relief that negotiations with the U.S. would go on and European support was becoming visible.
In Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, local residents told The Associated Press they were glad the first meeting between Greenlandic, Danish and American officials had taken place but suggested it left more questions than answers.
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Several people said they viewed Denmark’s decision to send more troops, and promises of support from other NATO allies, as protection against possible U.S. military action. But European military officials have not suggested the goal is to deter a U.S. move against the island.
Maya Martinsen, 21, agreed and said it was “comforting to know that the Nordic countries are sending reinforcements” because Greenland is a part of Denmark and NATO.
The dispute, she said, is not about “national security” but rather about “the oils and minerals that we have that are untouched.”
On Wednesday, Poulsen had announced a stepped-up military presence in the Arctic “in close cooperation with our allies,” calling it a necessity in a security environment in which “no one can predict what will happen tomorrow.”
“This means that from today and in the coming time there will be an increased military presence in and around Greenland of aircraft, ships and soldiers, including from other NATO allies,” Poulsen said.
Asked whether the European troop movements were coordinated with NATO or what role the U.S.-led military alliance might play in the exercises, NATO referred all questions to the Danish authorities. However, NATO is currently studying ways to bolster security in the Arctic.
Rasmussen, the Danish foreign minister, announced the creation of a working group with the Americans to discuss ways to work through differences.
“The group, in our view, should focus on how to address the American security concerns, while at the same time respecting the red lines of the Kingdom of Denmark,” he said.
Commenting on the outcome of the Washington meeting on Thursday, Poulsen said the working group was “better than no working group” and “a step in the right direction.” He added nevertheless that the dialogue with the U.S. did not mean “the danger has passed.”
“We are really happy that action is being taken to make sure that this discussion is not just ended with that meeting alone,” Greenlandic MP Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam said on Thursday during a news conference in Copenhagen.
She said Greenlandic people understood they were a “pivotal point” in a broader transformation of the international rules-based order and that they felt responsible not just for themselves but also for the whole world to get it right.
Høegh-Dam said the military operations should not happen “right next to our schools and right next to our kindergartens.”
Line McGee, a 38-year-old from Copenhagen, told AP that she was glad to see some diplomatic progress. “I don’t think the threat has gone away,” she said. “But I feel slightly better than I did yesterday.”
Speaking to FOX News Channel’s Special Report on Wednesday after the White House talks, Rasmussen rejected both a military takeover and the potential purchase of the island by the U.S. Asked whether he thinks the U.S. will invade, he replied: “No, at least I do not hope so, because, I mean, that would be the end of NATO.”
Rasmussen said Greenlanders were unlikely to vote for U.S. rule even if financial incentives were offered, “because I think there’s no way that U.S. will pay for a Scandinavian welfare system in Greenland, honestly speaking.”
“You haven’t introduced a Scandinavian welfare system in your own country,” he added.
Trump, in his Oval Office meeting with reporters, said: “We’ll see how it all works out. I think something will work out.”
© 2026 The Canadian Press
Politics
A Canadian citizen has died in Iran, Ottawa says as protests intensify – National TenX News
A Canadian citizen has died in Iran, Global Affairs Canada told Global News as the protests against the Iranian regime have intensified over the last few days.
“Global Affairs Canada is aware of a Canadian citizen who died in Iran. We express our condolences to the family and loved ones during this difficult time,” a spokesperson for GAC said.
As of Wednesday, there were 3,054 Canadian citizens and permanent residents registered in Iran, the spokesperson said.
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However, they added that since registration with GAC is voluntary, the actual number may be outdated.
Canada does not have diplomatic relations with Iran.
More to come
Sick astronaut returns to Earth with crew in NASA’s 1st medical evacuation – National TenX News
European troops arrive in Greenland after ‘disagreement’ with U.S. – National TenX News
A Canadian citizen has died in Iran, Ottawa says as protests intensify – National TenX News
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