Can Mark Carney’s US-China juggling act keep Canada’s ‘primary relationship’ intact?
A recent visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi highlighted the delicate balancing act the Canadian prime minister is trying to pull off
“The timing was almost certainly deliberate,” said Alejandro Reyes, a professor of politics and a senior fellow at the Centre on Contemporary China and the World at the University of Hong Kong. “It signals to Washington that engagement with Beijing does not come at the expense of the primary relationship.”
But he has not given up on his outsized neighbour, which he said during the New York visit still accounted for more than 70 per cent of its trade.
“Carney does not see Canada-China and Canada-US relations as trade-offs,” said Jeremy Paltiel, a senior fellow at the Institute for Peace and Diplomacy, a US-Canadian think tank. “He predicates relationship with China on China’s importance in the global economy and its importance therefore to Canada pursuing greater autonomy and sovereignty.”