China, Canada announce free-trade talks

Canada and China have agreed to launch exploratory talks on a possible free-trade agreement, the leaders of both countries said Thursday. According to The Wall Street Journal, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang made the announcement in Ottawa, during Mr. Li’s trip to Canada. Canada’s Liberal government, which came to power last fall, has pledged to improve dialogue with China, something Mr. Trudeau says Canada’s previous Conservative government failed to cultivate. The goal, Mr. Trudeau said, is to double bilateral trade between Canada and China by 2025. Two-way trade between the two was roughly 60.37 billion Canadian dollars (US$46.08 billion) in 2015, according to Statistics Canada data, trailing only Canada’s bilateral trade with the U.S. and with the European Union.