How Canada can navigate the massive, but 'challenging' market in China

On the thirdly base of a hotel in Beijing's business organisation territory, the lone pleader for Canada's meat industry is finding ways to get more pork and beef into the bowls of Chinese citizens. 

For the past nine months, Christopher White, president and CEO of the Canadian Meat Advocacy Office and Canada Pork, has been the industry's voice on the ground, working with Chinese officials, trade associations and industry to get recent tariffs and a ban on beef lifted.. 

Like White, Canadian business leaders in China are taking advantage of a tense political climate between the U.S. And Canada to foster more trade and business co-operation with the world's second-largest economy — in spite of challenges, intense competition and existing tariffs between Canada and China that have not yet been fully resolved.

For almost a year now, Canadian pork imports into China have faced a 25 per cent surtax, incurred after Ottawa followed in the footsteps of Washington and implemented a 100 per cent surtax on Chinese electric vehicles.

It became just one of many industries facing the pointed tit-for-tat of Chinese countertariffs. 

Prime Minister Mark Carney's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in January resulted in canola meal, peas, lobster and crab tariffs suspended, and canola seed saw a reduced tariff rate in exchange for letting 49,000 Chinese EVs into Canada at a 6.1 per cent tariff rate. The leaders also set a new target of increasing exports to China by 50 per cent in the next five years. 

But notably, the pork tariffs are still in place. 

"If you're out of … an important market, that's frustrating," said White. "If you don't know when you're going back in, it's challenging." 

Pork exports are sizeable, but smaller than other markets that saw relief sooner. In 2024, Canada exported $468.6 million worth of pork products to China. That same year, Canola exports to China were valued at almost $5 billion.

"Ideally the tariff gets off yesterday," White said. 

According to a February RBC report, exports to China for seafood and pork under the tariffs fell by 31 per cent and 19 per cent, respectively, in October 2025 compared with the previous year.

These industries attempted to find other markets to compensate — but White says pork is something of an exception for a unique reason.

Offal, or internal organs, have no bigger market than China, he said, and the industry lost roughly half a billion dollars as a result. In turn, China boosted its pork imports from countries like Brazil, which is not facing punitive tariffs.

White is also optimistic the tariff issues will be resolved with time and more opportunities for China-Canada co-operation will arise, considering the renewed relationship is in its relative infancy.

For two consecutive days, state media published positive reports on the state of Canada-China relations, stating both countries had "fulfilled their commitments on schedule, properly resolved major issues hindering the development of bilateral trade and economic relations, and created a favourable atmosphere for future all-round co-operation.”

"It's a significant market in terms of consumer goods," said Perez-Des Rosiers, noting China's population of more than 1.4 billion. 

"But it's a very competitive market. Every business from all around the world is here."

Many in the agriculture industry in Canada say it might be difficult to re-enter the Chinese market because they've found other suppliers during the diplomatic deep freeze. 

Despite the challenges and the fierce competition from both domestic and international players, once you're in, there are a staggering number of opportunities, Perez-Des Rosiers said. 

China to suspend some agricultural tariffs on Canada starting March 1

That's what Jacob Cooke found when he established WPIC Marketing and Technologies in China more than a decade ago. The company is focused on e-commerce and helping brands including Lululemon and Canada Goose establish themselves in Asia. 

Compared with the early years, Cooke says he's seen the country undergo a "rapid"  transformation, including in physical infrastructure like public transit, and in its economic development. 

"I love doing business there," he said, noting that local governments such as in Hangzhou, in Zhejiang province, are "really supportive" including with subsidies.

"They're some of the most supportive of all the offices we have around the world." 

Those subsidies are widely credited in the country as a major part of a company's success, including electric carmakers that are currently unrivalled. But they're also a sticking point for many countries and a cause of global trade tensions.

Aside from the existing tariffs in place, some observers say the subsidies point to an inherent difference in political systems that could stand in the way of more co-operation. 

"The way China is seen as fundamentally a challenger of a West-led kind of order poses all kinds of issues the Canadian government has to consider ideologically, politically, but also national security-wise," said Hongying Wang, who teaches Chinese and international political economy at the University of Waterloo.

"Diversification is easier said than done."

However, some in the business community say a thaw is as good a start as any.

While Carney signed agreements on oil and gas resource development, LNG and liquified petroleum gas and emissions reductions while in China, Perez-Des Rosiers thinks there are other opportunities.

"There's going to be more emphasis on integration of services in the Chinese economy … everything related to financial services, insurance," he said. 

There's also the key area of research and development, in which China has bolted ahead of competitors — including its adoption of EV and battery technology, renewable energy and artificial intelligence — in which the two countries could share knowledge.

"We need to keep coming. Ministers need to keep coming. Senior officials need to keep coming [to China]," said White.

For Wang, the exchanges need to be done cautiously. 

"I don't think there needs to be that kind of [a] hurry, as if China has all the leverage," she said. 

After all, building a relationship requires a "huge amount of diplomatic skill that hopefully the Canadian government does have."

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