Did china sign trade deal with canada
Executive summary
Yes — China and Canada have signed multiple bilateral trade and investment agreements over decades, including a landmark trade agreement in 1973 and a bilateral investment protection pact (FIPA) signed in 2012 — but they have not concluded a comprehensive, modern free‑trade agreement in recent years, and efforts to negotiate one have stalled amid political differences and recent tariff disputes [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. A first formal trade pact in 1973 that was signed in Beijing
Canada and the People’s Republic of China formally signed a trade agreement at Peking on 13 October 1973 — a text on the Canadian government’s treaty site records the signatures of Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Premier Zhou Enlai and states the agreement “shall come into force on the date of signature” and remain in force for three years, reflecting the early, cautious normalization of commercial ties [1].
2. The 2012 China‑Canada FIPA: an investment pact, not a free trade agreement
Canada and China signed a Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA) in September 2012 — an instrument focused on investor protections, arbitration and post‑establishment treatment for investors rather than a broad tariff‑cutting free trade package — and that text and its history are discussed in government material and legal summaries; the FIPA has been controversial at home for its investor‑state arbitration provisions and for concerns raised by Indigenous groups during ratification debates [2] [5] [6].
3. No recent comprehensive Canada‑China free trade agreement; talks foundered earlier
While both countries have had bilateral mechanisms and occasional negotiation forums, efforts to negotiate a high‑standard, comprehensive Canada–China free trade agreement have not produced a modern FTA: hopes for a full FTA flared in past Canadian governments but “foundered” by 2017 over progressive elements such as human‑rights, labour and environmental standards that Beijing rejected, and public reporting shows the relationship has been managed more through ad hoc mechanisms like the Joint Economic and Trade Commission rather than a new FTA [3].
4. Recent trade frictions and tit‑for‑tat measures complicate any new deal
Trade relations have become more fraught: Canada imposed surtaxes on certain Chinese goods in 2024 and China responded in March 2025 with heavy tariffs (including a 100% tariff on some Canadian canola products and peas and a 25% tariff on certain pork, fish and seafood) as countermeasures, and Canada requested WTO consultations over those Chinese tariffs, all of which makes the political climate for negotiating a new, broader trade pact more difficult [4].
5. Competing agendas and domestic politics shape what “a deal” could mean
Different stakeholders define “a trade deal” differently: industry groups sometimes press for access and rules of origin fixes (and accuse Canada of being a back door for Chinese content into North American supply chains), activists and some legal scholars worry about investor‑state dispute provisions in pacts like the FIPA, and governments balance commercial opportunity against strategic, human‑rights and supply‑chain security concerns — factors repeatedly cited in Canadian and independent analyses of the bilateral relationship [7] [5] [8].
6. Bottom line — the factual answer and what remains unproven
Factually, China has signed trade‑related agreements with Canada — older trade accords in the 1970s and the 2012 FIPA being principal examples [1] [2] [6] — but there is no evidence in the provided reporting that a new, comprehensive Canada‑China free trade agreement was signed in the recent period; instead, both sides have engaged in negotiations, reactivated bilateral mechanisms and traded tariffs and WTO complaints, indicating ongoing friction rather than the closure of a modern FTA [3] [4]. The available sources do not show a new omnibus free‑trade pact having been agreed, and they document reasons — political, economic and strategic — why such a deal has not been finalized [3] [8].