"We have goods that China needs, just as the opposite may be true," says Canada FM

Ontario [Canada], October 21 : Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand said that Canada had certain issues in trade with China, which she brought up in talks with them, CBC News reported. She said that China needed goods from Canada, just as the opposite is true.

"So, let's be clear that our trade with China at a bilateral basis is about 118 billion dollars. They're our second-largest trading partner. I raised those section sectors during our bilateral conversation," she said.

"But the gist of the interaction and my effort there was to put on the table a strategic partnership framework so that whenever Canada has concerns especially at a trade level that it wishes to raise with China, we do so not on an issue by basis but we do this in the context of a framework for the pragmatic, the constructive, the professional conversation that we need to have with our second largest trading partner," she added.

Anand said that Canada was aiming to remove sectoral tariffs and find a viable solution, not temporary fixes.

"I can't speak for the government on the other side. I can speak for our government in terms of our foreign policy. We are advocating for the removal of sectoral tariffs across the board. But what we need to do when there is a country that is raising these issues of an economic nature that affect these sectors. We need to have that strategic dialogue, and the partnership that we will continue to work on is one where these issues can be raised across the board," she said.

Anand also raised the issue of increasing cyber scams from China. "In fact, let's look at some of the other issues. There are economic issues, as well as global governance and climate change issues, that we want to work on from a multilateral perspective. There are also issues relating to crime, cyber scams, etc., also a concern that we raised in the meeting for us to work on together," she said.

"And then people-to-people ties- ensuring there's greater air traffic flow, making sure that visa processing is constructive and working. So again, we need a framework for the conversation with China. The strategic partnership that we agreed to is going to provide that framework and essentially a roadmap forward," she added.

She said that Canada, too, held leverage, as it had goods that China needed.

"Well, let's be clear. The two-way trade between China and Canada is at about $118 billion. That's two-way trade. In other words, we have goods that China needs, just as the opposite may be true," she told CBC News.

Anand then said that Canada intends to have a productive relationship in the economy at Indo-Pacific.

"There is going to be recalibration in the relationship now. And the framework that I put on the table during my meeting with my counterpart, Minister Wang Yi, is the first step towards ensuring that we're not dealing with the relationship on an issue-by-issue basis. We have a productive, recalibrated, intentional relationship with a very formidable economic partner in the Indo-Pacific," she said.

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