Politics
Small majority of Canadians want more trade with China: Ipsos poll – National TenX News
As Prime Minister Mark Carney prepares to travel to China and seeks to restore trade and diplomatic ties, a small majority of Canadians say they support more trade with Beijing, a new poll suggests.
The Ipsos poll conducted exclusively for Global News, released Saturday, found that 54 per cent expressed support for closer trade ties and economic agreements with China.
The results mark a turnaround from 2020, when eight out of 10 Canadians wanted the country to rely less on the Chinese market amid a nadir in relations sparked by foreign interference allegations against Beijing and the arbitrary detention of the “two Michaels.”
Darrell Bricker, CEO of Ipsos Public Affairs, says the new poll’s results “are less about China and more about the United States” and the economic realities of U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war.
“The reason that it’s bounced back is not all of a sudden people have fallen in love with China, which is why the numbers are soft,” Bricker said in an interview.
“The reason that they’ve bounced back is because people are thinking about who in the world we’re going to trade with. And the second largest population in the world, and the second largest economy, is probably a place that we need to have some sort of a relationship with.”
Ipsos contacted 2,001 Canadian adults in early December 2025 for the poll.
Carney will be in China for five days starting Tuesday, marking the first official trip to the country by a Canadian prime minister since 2017.
He will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the trip, which the Prime Minister’s Office said will build on the two leaders’ first meeting at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in South Korea last October.
Relations with Beijing plunged to new lows in 2018 after China jailed Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor for almost three years, in a move widely seen as retaliation over Canada’s arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on U.S. fraud charges.
While that source of tension was resolved after the three were released in 2021, trade relations have continued to suffer. Canada has imposed a 100 per cent tariff on Chinese electric vehicles and a 25 per cent import tax on steel and aluminum over the last two years, in moves that matched the U.S.
China responded with a 100 per cent tariff on various Canadian agricultural products last March, including canola and peas, plus a 25 per cent levy on pork and seafood products.
China’s ambassador to Canada has said Chinese tariffs would be removed if Canada dropped its EV tariffs. Political leaders in tariff-hit provinces like Saskatchewan have called on Ottawa to do all it can to get the agricultural tariffs lifted.
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Since becoming prime minister, Carney has said it’s important to re-engage and “reset” with China in the face of Trump’s tariffs. Canada’s foreign policy has subsequently shifted from seeking to isolate China to pursuing a “strategic relationship” that balances co-operation with competition.
Carney said in September 2025 that Ottawa should be “clearer about where we engage” with China — that Canada could collaborate “deeply” with Beijing on energy, climate change and basic manufacturing, while maintaining “guardrails” around national security matters.
“We have to be really careful about our relations with China, to not try to broaden and deepen them, to expose ourselves in the future to even more problems down the road,” said Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, a senior fellow at the University of Ottawa who studies Canada-China relations.
“We have to be concerned about what guardrails are going to be set up for the medium and long term and not find ourselves being used by China as a wedge with the U.S.”
She added that Carney must ensure Canadian businesses aren’t “taken to the cleaners” when entering the Chinese market and that “we can’t let them anywhere near our advanced technologies or artificial intelligence or critical minerals.”
McCuaig-Johnston and Kovrig, now a senior advisor to the International Crisis Group, said Carney must also avoid dropping Canada’s EV tariffs in exchange for Chinese tariff relief.
“If Canada does that, then it would hollow out its automobile manufacturing sector within a decade,” Kovrig said in an interview.
Critics of China and Xi, such as Hong Kong pro-democracy activists, have told Global News that Canada should be careful about deepening economic ties with Beijing. They say the detentions of Kovrig, Spavor and other Canadians in recent years prove China and Hong Kong are “not safe places” for business and trade.
“Are we going to reward China for what they’re doing [by doing business with them]? I don’t think that’s OK,” said Andy Wong, president of the Ontario non-profit Canada-Hong Kong Link.
Economic benefits vs ‘shared values’?
Saturday’s Ipsos poll suggests Canadians are more interested in trade deals that prioritize direct benefits to the Canadian economy and cost of living than issues like national security, the environment and human rights.
Seventy-one per cent of those surveyed said benefits to Canadians are either very or critically important for trading relationships, with 26 per cent considering it a “deal-breaker.”
Two-thirds of poll respondents said economic opportunity for Canadian businesses should be prioritized.
That number falls to 60 per cent who put importance on human rights, 52 per cent for national security and 46 per cent in environmental standards and “shared values” between Canada and its trading partners.
Additionally, the poll found just 25 per cent of Canadians agreed that Canada should only pursue “values-based trade” agreements with countries that share its values on democracy and human rights, “even if it means slower economic growth.”
“The other 75 [per cent] is saying, ‘Look, I know there are issues here, but the most important thing for me is that it pays off for Canada in terms of our economic interests, and it’s going to pay off for people like me personally,’” Bricker said.
“I think in times of plenty, when people don’t feel they’re under threat, the values arguments become more important in the conversation. But … Donald Trump has moved this conversation to a different place that people have become more self-interested.”
Still, Kovrig warned those values shouldn’t be ignored while pursuing trade with China.
“Economic interaction with China now comes with a much higher price tag of measures you have to take to protect democracy, human rights, security and sovereign independence,” he said.
Just under 20 per cent of Canadians surveyed by Ipsos said Canada should trade with countries that have different values in order to use trade as leverage for human rights improvements.
A near-equal number, 18 per cent, said Canada should pursue “pragmatic trade” that disregards the human rights records and domestic politics of trading partners, so long as the agreements offer mutual economic benefits.
Just 16 per cent said they supported protectionist policies that would see Canada focus on domestic production while reducing reliance on international trade.
— with files from Global’s David Akin and The Canadian Press
These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between Dec. 5 and 11, 2025 as part of our Trump, Tariffs, and Turmoil syndicated study. For this survey, a sample of n=2,001 Canadians aged 18+ was interviewed online, via the Ipsos I-Say panel and non-panel sources, and respondents earn a nominal incentive for their participation. Quotas and weighting were employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample’s composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos polls, which include non-probability sampling, is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ± 2.7 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadians been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to, coverage error and measurement error. Ipsos abides by the disclosure standards established by the CRIC, found here:
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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