Trudeau, Xi face off on future of trade as PM China trip begins in earnest
BEIJING — Smiles and warm handshakes, ceremony and splendour — all of it will be on vivid display on Monday when Chinese Premier Li Keqiang extends a red-carpet welcome to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
But the spectacle that will envelop Trudeau’s arrival at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People will shroud a starker reality: Canada’s uphill fight to forge a fair trading relationship with a big, ambitious country that plays by its own rules.
The government is playing down the possibility that this trip would mark the start of formal free trade talks, but the prime minister will be looking to attract Chinese investors and move economic relations forward. China is eager to get on with actual negotiations after several long rounds of “exploratory” discussions with Canada.
But Canada needs something else first: guarantees from China the talks won’t be strictly business.