Canada’s trade department has bluntly told new minister Maninder Sidhu that Beijing is a dangerous and unreliable market, warning that Canadian firms face everything from patent theft to forced labour if they rely on China.In a March 14 briefing, officials said Ottawa is “focused on diversifying away from China into the broader Indo-Pacific,” even as the People’s Republic remains a major player in global trade. Blacklock's Reporter says China accounts for just 4% of Canadian exports, but the report described it as a “challenging market” plagued by investment restrictions, slave labour and widespread intellectual property theft..“China’s pervasive use of unfair and non-market practices including subsidization, forced technology transfers and insufficient labour standards with forced labour and environmental standards creates global market distortions,” said the memo. “This has led to structural overcapacity in some sectors.”The department also flagged China’s struggling domestic economy, citing weak real estate and labour markets, an aging population and low consumer demand. .Officials said Beijing is leaning on subsidized production and technology theft to prop up exports, hurting Canadian competitiveness and hollowing out critical industries.The warning comes after years of debate over trade with China. Cabinet endorsed free trade talks in 2017, but public opinion quickly soured. A 2018 Privy Council survey found 72% of Canadians wanted to block Chinese takeovers of Canadian companies, while 64% opposed any trade deals with countries tied to human rights abuses. Only 16% of Canadians surveyed in 2020 said Canada should pursue closer trade ties with China.Critics cited unfair practices, rights violations, job losses and simple distrust of the regime as reasons to avoid a deal, while just 26% said the lure of cheap consumer goods was a convincing argument for a pact.
