What Canada Gets Wrong in Its Reset with China | The Walrus

"During his recent delegation to Beijing-the first by a Canadian prime minister since relations between the two countries became strained in 2018-Mark Carney agreed to allow 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles into the Canadian market at a reduced tariff rate. The move was presented as a pragmatic reset that could draw joint-venture capital back into Canada's auto corridor and offer relief to an industry squeezed by United States president Donald Trump's trade war."

"Wang is a Canadian writer who covers technological, macroeconomic, and geopolitical dynamics between China and the US. His book Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future was one of last year's most talked-about works of nonfiction. At its core, Breakneck argues that political power in the US is dominated by lawyers, while, in China, it is largely held by engineers-and that these contrasting professional cultures produce profoundly different approaches to industrial policy and trade: regulatory caution and incremental growth on one side, rapid manufacturing scale and infrastructure build-out on the other."

"As Canada tests a recalibrated relationship with China, I wanted Wang's perspective on how a middle power can navigate an era of intensifying great-power rivalry-and what trade deals can realistically achieve. He spoke to me over video call from his home in Palo Alto, California, about all of this and more. The conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity."

Canada approved reduced-tariff entry for 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles as a pragmatic reset intended to attract joint-venture capital to the national auto corridor and relieve an industry strained by US trade conflict. Dan Wang is a Canadian writer who analyzes technological, macroeconomic, and geopolitical dynamics between China and the United States. His book Breakneck contends that the US political sphere is dominated by lawyers while China is dominated by engineers, producing divergent industrial policies: regulatory caution and incremental growth in the US versus rapid manufacturing scale and infrastructure build-out in China. Canada is reassessing its relationship with China amid great-power rivalry and trade considerations.

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