China Wang Yi starts Ottawa visit to discuss trade

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Ottawa on Thursday for a three-day diplomatic visit, marking the first such high-level meeting in a decade. He is scheduled to meet with Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand and Prime Minister Mark Carney during his stay.

The visit follows a trip by Prime Minister Carney to China in January, where he met with President Xi Jinping. That meeting resulted in a preliminary trade agreement, with China agreeing to lower or eliminate some tariffs on Canadian agricultural products and Canada agreeing to reduce tariffs on some Chinese electric vehicles.

Prime Minister Carney said last week that the earlier meetings were crucial, stating that diplomatic relations had broken down, trade had been undermined by a series of tariffs, and the relationship was in need of a reset. According to a statement from Anand's office, Wang and Anand are expected to discuss the recently updated Canada-China Strategic Partnership, along with trade, investment, and global security issues.

In a separate economic development, Statistics Canada is set to release its first-quarter gross domestic product report, which will provide early data on how ongoing tariffs and...