The fraught relationship between Canada and China

In late 2015, after Justin Trudeau became Canadian prime minister, Ottawa’s relations with Beijing seemed on the verge of becoming more cooperative, with increasing levels of bilateral trade and investment. But relations deteriorated sharply in 2018 amid a worsening trade war between the United States and China and after Canada arrested Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou at the request of law-enforcement officials in the US. There is little prospect that relations will improve in the near term, regardless of whether the Meng affair concludes by the end of 2021 or whether the next Canadian government is formed by the Liberals or the Conservatives.