Here is an Invidious link for the video (6 min.) (original is here)
Former Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland doubts the effectiveness of Canada’s trade agreement with China, saying China should not be trusted.
“China today, when it talks to countries like Canada - and I would personally say this is sad - is casting itself as the reliable partner…my own view is we need to be a little bit skeptical of commitments from China.”
“A lot of Canadians are now coming to the conclusion that Beijing can be trusted more than Washington. I think that’s really sad … and it is [also] not in the national American interest.”
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Oh boy… Targeted at Americans, this message could be useful. In Canada, it sounds like yet another case of failing to read the room. And with this coming from her, I’m glad we managed to eject her and elect Carney for the position she thought was in the bag. Had she become our PM, I feel like our response to Trump would’ve looked something like Starmer’s and it would’ve suffered a similar popularity dump. Making a fascist PP takeover much more likely.
Her remarks are absolutely accurate. She must know it because China tried to coerced Canada into a trade agreement via the Canada China Business Council, using Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig as sort of bargaining chips. Freeland was minister at the time.
Canada is also a great supporter of Ukraine in its war against Russia. It doesn’t make much sense to engage in a trade deal with China which is the single largest enabler of Moscow’s war machine and provides the economic lifeline for Putin.
It also contradicts Mark Carney’s own warning from April 2025 that named China the “largest security threat” for Canada.
Canada needs to diversify its trade. This trade deal with China is not diversification, though. It risks to become another dependence trap.
@wampus@lemmy.ca