Chinese officials said a recent trade agreement with Canada is not meant to undercut other countries, after Donald Trump threatened to impose 100% tariffs on Canadian products if Canada finalises the "deal" with Beijing, according to BBC.
"It does not target any third party," China's foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Monday of the new "strategic partnership" between Canada and China.
Trump threatened the tariffs in a Truth Social post over the weekend, and warned in subsequent posts that China is "successfully and completely taking over" Canada.
In response, Prime Minister Mark Carney has said that Canada is not pursuing a free-trade deal with China and has "never" considered it.
He added that Canadian officials have made their position clear to their American counterparts.
Asked to respond to Trump's comments at a news conference on Monday, the Canadian prime minister noted that Canada is obligated to notify the US if it plans to sign a free-trade deal with a "non-market economy" as part of the USMCA, the long-standing free trade pact it has signed with the US and Mexico.
"We would have given notice, and then there is a very open and transparent process," Carney said.
The deal agreed upon between Ottawa and Beijing would lower levies on Canadian canola oil from 85% to 15% by March, while Canada will tax a limited number of Chinese electric vehicles, or EVs, at the most-favoured-nation rate, 6.1% – down from 100%.
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