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Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney said he plans to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping later this week when both leaders are at a summit in South Korea, aiming to firm up relations with the world's second biggest economy while long-standing ties with the U.S. fray. The Canadian leader, speaking in Malaysia while on a three-nation Asia trip, said he plans to discuss bilateral commercial relations with Xi, along with a broader range of issues. "We will pick up on the discussions I had with Premier Li in New York a few weeks ago," he said, referring to a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly with China's No. 2 official, Li Qiang. Carney said the talks could see progress on easing travel restrictions between the countries, as well as on agriculture, fishery products and manufacturing for Canada. The planned meeting with Xi comes amid fresh tensions with President Donald Trump, who recently called off trade talks and threatened additional tariffs. Trump has said he has no plans to meet Carney when they cross paths in the region. Carney is seeking to balance his security interests, which overlap with Washington, against his country's economic well being, which is being tested by Trump's aggressive trade war. His Asia tour is part of his recently announced goal to double Canada's exports to markets outside the U.S. within a decade to net an extra $215 billion in trade. Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand recently traveled to China to help ease relations. That includes seeking relief from hefty Chinese tariffs against Canada's canola, pork and seafood, while Carney has resisted lowering tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, steel and aluminum. "We're in the process of a resetting of expectations of where the relationship can go," Carney said. "We're starting from a very low base, and we can move quite substantially before we start to get to sensitive areas." He added the discussions would include "the evolution of the global system," a reference to the multilateral organizations and relationships that broadly govern global economic trends and security, such as the International Monetary Fund and U.N. "This is one of the most influential actors in terms of the global system, such as it is." Carney told reporters Asia will play a major role in reaching his ambition of doubling non-U.S. exports. During his time in Malaysia to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, he pitched Canada as an "energy superpower" with large reserves of oil, gas and critical minerals. He and Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. agreed to "imminently" launch negotiations on a new free trade agreement between the two countries, with a goal of concluding it in 2026, Carney said. Canada and Malaysia also signed a letter of intent to deepen investment in liquefied natural gas, oil, nuclear and renewable energy, and Carney met with Petronas Chief Executive Officer Tengku Muhammad Taufik. Carney intends to fast-track permitting of a second phase of the LNG Canada export facility in British Columbia, in which Petronas is a major investor. Carney also said he accelerated negotiations on a Canada-ASEAN free trade agreement, including by putting forward $17.9 million in technical assistance for the nations in the bloc. He next travels to Singapore, where he will tour port facilities and meet Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. US RESPONSE Trump said he doesn't anticipate meeting with Carney "for a while," despite Carney's insistence that the two sides were close to a trade deal on lowering metals tariffs. Trump halted the talks last week in reaction to a TV advertisement by the province of Ontario that criticized his tariff regime. On Monday, Trump was asked about the possibility of meeting with Carney, who will also be in South Korea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit later this week. "I don't want to meet with him," Trump said on Monday aboard Air Force One. "No, I'm not going to be meeting with them for a while. I'm very happy with the deal we have right now with Canada. We're going to let it ride." On Saturday, Trump said he would increase the import tax on goods from Canada by 10% over the ad, which features excerpts of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs. Ontario Premier Doug Ford had said he would stop airing the ad after the weekend, but Trump has expressed frustration that the Canadian leader didn't move to immediately pull the commercial, which has aired during U.S. broadcasts of the World Series. Asked when the additional tariff would kick in, Trump said he didn't know. "We'll see," he said. Carney, who spoke with reporters a few hours after Trump's comments, said he hasn't talked to the U.S. president since talks were halted. "We're ready to sit down when they're ready to do that," Carney said, adding that the countries had recently made "considerable progress in the areas of steel, aluminum and energy," to the point that term sheets were being exchanged. Carney said he takes Trump at his word that the television ad was the reason for cutting off the talks, but still sees value in restarting the negotiations despite the animosity from the White House. "In any complicated, high-stakes negotiation, you can get unexpected twists and turns and you have to keep your cool during those situations," Carney said. "We stand by the progress that had been made -- the government of Canada does -- and we are ready, when appropriate, to pick that up." Information for this article was contributed by Brian Platt, Laura Dhillon Kane, Josh Wingrove and Derek Decloet of Bloomberg (WPNS).
