Li Chenggang (Left), China's international trade representative with the Ministry of Commerce and also a vice-minister of commerce, and Rob Stewart (Right), deputy minister of international trade of Canada, jointly chaired the meeting. Photo: Ministry of Commerce website

The 28th meeting of the China-Canada Joint Economic and Trade Commission was held in Ottawa, Canada on Tuesday. The two sides conducted candid, pragmatic, and constructive exchanges on improving and developing bilateral trade and economic relations, properly addressing each other's economic and trade concerns, and advancing practical cooperation, China's Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.

Li Chenggang, China's international trade representative with the Ministry of Commerce and also a vice-minister of commerce, and Rob Stewart, deputy minister of international trade of Canada, jointly chaired the meeting.

Li noted that the meeting serves as a critical step to implement the consensus reached in the phone call between the premiers of the two countries.

Prior to the meeting, their working-level teams conducted thorough preparatory work. During the discussions, the two sides, guided by mutual respect and mutual benefit, actively explored concrete pathways to enhance bilateral economic and trade relations under new circumstances.

China is willing to work with Canada to leverage the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations and the 20th anniversary of strategic partnership as opportunities, adopting constructive approaches and pragmatic actions to manage differences, address mutual economic and trade concerns, and jointly expand cooperation areas.

The two sides agreed to continue leveraging the China-Canada Joint Economic and Trade Commission mechanism, and through subsequent communications and exchanges, to accumulate positive outcomes in economic and trade cooperation and promote the healthy, stable, and sustainable development of bilateral economic ties. 

The meeting marks the first between the world's two major economies under the Joint Economic and Trade Commission mechanism after a hiatus of nearly eight years, as the 27th China-Canada Joint Economic and Trade Committee was held in Beijing in November 2017. 

It signals a positive step by China and Canada to resuming high-level dialogue and exchanges, which is significant for improving and promoting bilateral economic and trade relations, Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday.

On August 8, the Economic Partnership Working Group under the China-Canada Joint Economic and Trade Commission convened a meeting in Beijing, where the two sides had in-depth and frank exchanges on bilateral economic and trade relations and key economic and trade concerns of both sides, and exchanged views on deepening bilateral, regional, and multilateral economic and trade cooperation.

However, some of Canada's unreasonable actions against China have intensified bilateral trade tensions. Starting from July 31, Canada started to impose additional tariffs on certain steel goods melted and poured in China and certain aluminum goods smelted and cast in China, according to the Canadian government website.

On August 15, MOFCOM filed a lawsuit against Canada at the WTO over its import restrictions on steel and other products, urging Canada to take immediate steps to correct its erroneous practices, uphold the rules-based multilateral trading system, and promote the continuous improvement of China-Canada economic and trade relations.

As Canada also faces rising trade protectionism, the two countries should strengthen cooperation under the multilateralism framework, Lü noted, urging the Canadian side to maintain policy autonomy, face up to its economic and trade cooperation with China, and jointly safeguard the stable development of the international trade order.

With highly complementary economic structures and resource endowments, China and Canada have had fruitful cooperation in various fields and the bilateral trade keeps increasing. According to data released by Chinese customs, the trade volume between China and Canada totaled $93.04 billion in 2024, a 4.5 percent year-on-year increase. China's imports from Canada reached $46.6 billion, up by 6.1 percent year-on-year.