Michael Kovrig

Anand says Indo-Pacific strategy will have economic focus but maintain values | CBC News Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says the economy is becoming the primary focus of Canada's relationships in the Indo-Pacific — a shift that appears linked to Canada's recent moves to overcome its...

Sidebar: Canada and allies should study and learn from each other's successes and missteps in developing Indo-Pacific strategies that integrate interests and values and balance constraining the #CCP while safely maximizing benefits from engaging with Asia

Good Vibes in Trump Trade Talks Haven’t Shielded Canada From Chaos

The smart play? Trump should stop giving American allies like Canada a hard time and instead join CPTPP and agree on a common level of North American and European tariffs on Chinese exports. (Oh to dream!)

So how do you think Canada should manage its relations with China going forward? /13 🧵END

It could also create major cybersecurity vulnerabilities. EV’s are like giant smartphones on wheels. If Canada doesn’t let Huawei build its telecom infrastructure, why allow BYD to make its connected vehicles? /12

Why Chinese EVs Could Tempt Canada As America's Tariff War Rages On Canada's 100% tariff keeps China's electric cars out for now. However, America's new trade war makes a deal with China tempting.

Letting Chinese producers dominate EVs in Canada would lock the country into a dependent role as a supplier of energy + commodities & absorber of China’s manufacturing overcapacity. /11

I think China wants to take a big share of Canada’s auto sector and from there reach the US market. Whether it’s through imports or assembly plants, that would decimate the Canadian auto sector and stifle a domestic infant industry. So Canada should maintain its tariffs. /10

Canada to impose 100% tariff on Chinese EVs, including Teslas Canada, following the lead of the United States and European Union, said on Monday it would impose a 100% tariff on imports of Chinese electric vehicles and announced a 25% tariff on imported steel and aluminum from China.

Electric Vehicles are the latest battleground. After Canada blocked an incoming wave of Chinese EVs with 100% tariffs, China hit back against Canadian agri-food products. /9

Integrating Values and Interests in Canada-China Relations This paper from Canada-China legal expert Dr. Pitman B. Potter examines the role of Canadian values and national interests in Canada’s relations with China.

Internationally, those values are actualized through liberal norms, laws and institutions that help protect smaller countries like Canada from aggression and coercion by larger powers such as China. /8

China wants Canada to take a short-term, transactional approach and forget about values and national security. But for Canada, values ARE a core interest because they define a common identity that binds together a diverse population. /7

Canada sees the CCP as a threat due to support for Russia’s Ukraine invasion, regional aggression, cyberattacks, espionage, repression, mercantilist policies, wolf warrior diplomacy, political interference, illegal police stations, sanctions on advocates, and diaspora harassment. And more… /6

PM Carney and Premier Li Qiang recently agreed to “regularize communication channels” but relations remain strained by unresolved grievances and disagreements, a widening divergence in interests and values, and hostile CCP policies. For Canada, it’s not a reset, it’s a cautious recalibration. /5

China-Canada Relations: High Tariffs and Low Trust - Open Canada Hopes are for a reset in relations under Trump’s tariffs, but a wary recalibration is likely a more realistic scenario.

Open Canada: tinyurl.com/yaasmzyb /4

China Trends #23 - Canada, Japan and Australia: Swing States or Pawns for China? China Trends is a quarterly publication by Institut Montaigne's Asia Program, with each issue focusing on a single theme. This new edition sheds light on China's ambitions in the global space of diplo...

China Trends version (PDF with original 中文汉字): tinyurl.com/425pmvsf /3

I explain why in a new article for the latest issue of Institut Montaigne's China Trends that analyzes how Chinese writers see Australia, Canada and Japan in the midst of a geoeconomic brawl between Beijing and Washington. Links in the comments below. /2
#China #Canada #CCP #Carney #TradeWar #Trump

Chinese analysts and diplomats are saying that Canada, under pressure from US tariffs, should tilt toward China.

The implicit deal: kowtow to the CCP in return for economic benefits, sacrifice Canadian manufacturing for agricultural exports.

It’s a devil’s bargain for Canada. 🧵/1

PM Carney and Premier Li Qiang recently agreed to “regularize communication channels” but relations remain strained by unresolved grievances and disagreements, a widening divergence in interests and values, and hostile CCP policies. For Canada, it’s not a reset, it’s a cautious recalibration. /5

China Trends #23 - Canada, Japan and Australia: Swing States or Pawns for China? China Trends is a quarterly publication by Institut Montaigne's Asia Program, with each issue focusing on a single theme. This new edition sheds light on China's ambitions in the global space of diplo...

China Trends version (PDF with original 中文汉字): tinyurl.com/425pmvsf /3

I explain why in a new article for the latest issue of Institut Montaigne's China Trends that analyzes how Chinese writers see Australia, Canada and Japan in the midst of a geoeconomic brawl between Beijing and Washington. Links in the comments below. /2
#China #Canada #CCP #Carney #TradeWar #Trump

Kovrig: PM needs a China strategy “We’re passing through a geopolitical inflection point."

Shared some thoughts with POLITICO about the upcoming #Huawei trial and #Canada's new and growing geopolitical challenges. Updated strategies for #China and the #IndoPacific should be developed as part of comprehensive foreign policy vision.

Economic and technological security are now inseparable from geopolitical stability. The G7 and B7 have a narrow window to act—with unity and urgency.

Cybersecurity, critical infrastructure protection, and defense against foreign interference are now part of the deterrence mission. G7 media and civil society must also do more to expose and counter authoritarian disinformation and influence operations.

#Deterrence requires more than military spending. We need to rebuild our defense industrial bases, boost research and development, revitalize dual-use manufacturing, and ensure that B7 companies drive innovation and resilience in critical sectors like AI, energy, and advanced manufacturing.

#Trump's tariffs are fracturing trusted trade relationships at exactly the wrong moment. Instead of drifting apart, the G7 and B7 must align economic security policies across the USMCA, the EU, and CPTPP to build a unified and resilient economic bloc.

#China is the key enabler of authoritarian aggression. It fuels Russia’s war, props up Iran and North Korea, and works to undermine open societies. Its grip on supply chains is strategic—and it’s not afraid to weaponize it.

YouTube video by cpac B7 Summit: Attendees speak with reporters – May 16, 2025

Now that the 2025 #G7 summit is over, here’s the strategic narrative I shared beforehand at the #B7 summit—where economic security rightly took center stage. A few of my remarks from the B7 summit are in this video. Full 10-min media Q&A via CPAC: youtu.be/YQI_PslO1XY?.... A short recap 🧵

Followed, threatened and smeared — attacks by China against its critics in Canada are on the rise: CBC/ICIJ investigations reveal increasing transnational repression against Canadians and around the world
lnkd.in/gi6kDjNG

Chinese exporters ‘wash’ products in third countries to avoid Donald Trump’s tariffs Asian neighbours wary of becoming staging posts for trade actually destined for US

Why US trading partners face increasing pressure to align their tariffs on China with American foreign economic policy:

EU eyes closer ties to transpacific bloc as Trump jolts trade order Brussels revives plan to forge strategic partnership with CPTPP to defend rules-based global system

For the centre of a liberal international order to hold, there need to be stronger, deeper ties between nations that still believe in it. EU + CPTPP progress is crucial.

How Bad Is China’s Economy? The Data Needed to Answer Is Vanishing Beijing has stopped publishing hundreds of statistics related to real estate, finance, unemployment and even soy sauce production, making it harder to know what’s going on in the country.

Pro tip: China’s not hiding economic data because the numbers are too good. “Keep moving, nothing to see here…” The CCP runs on secrecy like BYD’s cars run on batteries.

This trade war started a long time ago.

The irony is that Trump might succeed in driving a greater shift toward Chinese domestic consumption than Xi has.

#china #CCP #trump #tariffs #xijinping

"We should increase the dependence of international supply chains on China and establish powerful retaliatory and menacing capabilities against foreign powers that would try to cut supplies."