Canada and China agreed to deepen cooperation between their financial systems after meetings in Vancouver between Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne, International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu and China’s vice-premier, He Lifeng.

Their joint statement backed multilateralism and a transparent, predictable environment for trade and investment, while calling for greater access to financial services and closer engagement between regulators.

The countries also extended an existing trade arrangement through the end of 2028, preserving lower Chinese tariffs on Canadian canola meal, peas, lobster and crab, and Canadian tariff remissions for certain Chinese steel and aluminum products.

Financial initiatives include extending the yuan-Canadian dollar currency-swap arrangement and China’s first issuance of 4 billion yuan ($598.8 million) in sovereign green bonds in Canada.

Recent commerce talks also extended mutual tariff exemptions through the end of 2028, established a business leaders’ roundtable and made progress on outstanding trade concerns.

Separately, Canada extended tariff relief for some U.S. imports until June 30, 2028, while planning to restore duties on selected goods with domestic alternatives, including certain trailers from December 1 and specified aluminum and paperboard products from February 1, 2027.

The renewed engagement comes as bilateral trade grows: China-Canada trade rose 14.3 percent year-on-year to 615.69 billion yuan ($92.29 billion) in the first 10 months of 2026, and China’s imports from Canada increased 20.1 percent.

Canada aims to increase exports to China by 50 percent by 2030, as it seeks trade relationships that benefit Canadian businesses and workers.

The push to diversify partnerships comes as trade negotiations with the United States remain difficult, with tariffs on lumber, steel, aluminum and automobiles continuing to cause tension; Mark Carney said Washington withdrew a proposal giving the United States final approval over Canada’s trade agreements with other countries.

The agreements came ahead of Mark Carney’s planned trip to Shenzhen for the APEC summit, where further trade and investment discussions with China may take place; specific terms of some agreements were not disclosed.

On Nov. 8, He, Champagne and Sidhu met business leaders from both countries to discuss expanding bilateral trade and investment.

Experts said closer economic ties could help Canada build resilience amid volatility in U.S. trade policy, with potential cooperation across energy, technology, agriculture and other sectors.