Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Saturday that his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping was a “turning point” in repairing broken relations.
Carney also acknowledged that he apologized to Donald Trump at the APEC summit in South Korea for an anti-tariff advertising campaign that urged the US president to raise tariffs on Canada, according to AFP.
Relations between Canada and China are among the worst in the Western world, but on Friday Mr. Carney and Mr. Xi held the first formal talks between the two leaders since 2017 to manage President Trump’s trade offensive.
Last Saturday, President Trump raised tariffs on Canada by 10% following a “fake” anti-tariff ad campaign featuring the late US President Ronald Reagan.
Even after Secretary Carney expressed regret about the ad, the US president flatly refused to restart trade negotiations.
“I apologized to the president. He was offended,” Carney said on Saturday, insisting he was open to resuming talks.