Canada and China Announce Free Trade Talks

Chinese Premier Li visits Canada following UNGAChinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived in the Canadian capital, Ottawa.

As he welcomed Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also said the two countries had reached an agreement to try to end a lingering dispute over Canadian canola exports by 2020, although he offered no specifics.

Li on Thursday also met with Canada’s Senate Speaker George Furey, Speaker of the House of Commons Geoff Regan and the General Governor David Johnston.

For more on Premier Li’s visit to Canada, let’s cross live to CCTV correspondent Roee Ruttenberg in Ottawa. The exploratory talks are part of a bid to double two-way trade by 2025, Trudeau said.

Canadian Cattlemen’s Association President Dan Darling called the news a significant result for the Canadian beef sector.

In Ottawa, Li and Trudeau will meet. She said hundreds of thousands of people are out of work in her province, Alberta, right now, and asked what Trudeau would say if one of those families looked him in the eye and asked if it was good judgment to sign off on $200,000 of real estate fees.

The meeting comes barely one month after the two leaders held talks in Beijing. ICE Canada canola futures RSv1 rose 1.4 percent, touching the day’s highs after news of the agreement.

Canada has allowed 31,000 Syrians to resettle in the country since Trudeau became prime minister.

On the sideline of the UN Assembly, the Prime Minister also discussed with his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau about visa liberalization for Romanian citizens.

But Carleton University professor Jeremy Paltiel said a treaty, if crafted well, could be a net benefit to Canada. Beijing and Washington have no extradition treaty.

“Several more fugitives will be extradited from Europe and South America in the near future”, the China Daily cited the official as saying.

Canada and China had a mixed relationship over the past decade under the previous Conservative administration.

“We have created a dialogue”, he said.

“Canada has set high standards regarding extradition pact in its value, but still they are happy to have a high-level security dialogue”, Trudeau said.

The Conservatives and NDP say China’s frequent use of the death penalty, among other things, makes it a bad candidate for an extradition treaty with Canada. It’s going to take a little bit of time. Such an agreement runs the risk of making Canada complicit in the worst aspects of China’s inconsistent, politicized and often brutal judicial system. “It has not been the topic of public discussion”.

Share with Us – We’d love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article, and smart, constructive criticism.

Be proactive – Use the “Flag as Inappropriate” link at the upper right corner of each comment to let us know of abusive posts.