Champagne says boosting financial trade with China key to broader diversification

OTTAWA — Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne wrapped up a trip to Beijing where he said the governor of the Bank of Canada and other top Canadian financial officials met with Chinese counterparts.

Champagne said that he met with Lan Fo’an, China’s finance minister, and Vice Premier He Lifeng to talk about ways the Canadian financial services sector can increase operations in the country. He said this includes Canadian banks getting more licenses to offer a wider range of services in China and increased access to bond markets.

“If you want to expand your trade, you need financial services. You need to be able to provide that kind of services to the exporters that want to do more in the Chinese market,” Champagne said.

The minister added he expects Lifeng to visit Canada in the near future.

The minister said he raised Canada’s stance on human rights and requirements for supply chain integrity after Liberal MP Michael Ma appeared to doubt cast doubts on the use of forced labour in China during a parliamentary committee meeting last week.

“We did speak about supply chain integrity. That was a core message that I conveyed to our Chinese counterpart to say that obviously Canada puts a lot of importance on supply chain integrity and that our bilateral trade needs to be conducted in accordance with international standards,” Champagne said.

Ma later apologized and said he had been asking about forced labour in Shenzhen, where most of China’s electric vehicle production is located, and not Xinjiang, where the Chinese government has been accused of widespread abuses against Uyghurs.

Champagne said he also raised the issue of continued 25 per cent Chinese tariffs on Canadian pork products.

The minister said he told his Chinese counterparts that Canada wants to resolve trade irritants between the two countries, and described these discussions as a “clearing house” for trade issues between the two countries.

“Our trading relationship is around $120 billion. If you look at the size of the Canadian economy and the size of the Chinese economy, it should be much higher than that,” Champagne said.

“We will need to continue to push to remove these trade irritants so that the broader vision of increasing the trade between our two countries is accomplished.”

Champagne said that there was significant interest from China in purchasing more Canadian energy as the war in Iran and closure of the Strait of Hormuz disrupts global markets.

Prime Minister Mark Carney travelled to China earlier this year to meet with President Xi Jinping. That meeting saw Canada reduce its tariff on Chinese electric vehicles from 100 per cent to 6.1 per cent and agree to import up to 49,000 vehicles annually.

In return, China removed or reduced its tariffs on canola products and seafood until at least the end of 2026.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 3, 2026.

David Baxter, The Canadian Press