Canada plays China card in preparation for Trump trade fight

Canada’s deputy prime minister highlighted her country’s tougher approach to Chinese exports, seeking to gain favour with Donald Trump and his key advisers ahead of his return to power in Washington.

Chrystia Freeland said the Canadian government shares the same concerns as Trump’s team with China’s “intentional policy of overcapacity”, which is why Canada recently matched US tariffs on Chinese steel, aluminium and electric vehicles.

Freeland said she has kept in touch with Robert Lighthizer, who was the US trade representative in the first Trump administration and is likely to play a major economic policy role in the next one.

Lighthizer and Freeland spoke a few times on Tuesday and discussed China earlier this year, she said, adding that it’s “an area where Ambassador Lighthizer and I are very strongly in agreement.”

Her comments, made during a news conference in Ottawa, show how Canada will try to shield itself from Trump’s promise to impose a sweeping set of global tariffs once he takes office.

The Republican president-elect has pledged a minimum 10 per cent tariff on everything the US imports, and has not promised any exemptions for Canada. Freeland and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will try to make the case that they are aligned with a number of key US goals, including its strategy for competing with China.