Small majority of Canadians want more trade with China: Ipsos poll – National
As Prime Minister Mark Carney prepares to visit China and seek to restore trade and diplomatic ties, a narrow majority of Canadians say they support more trade with Beijing, a new survey suggests.
An Ipsos poll conducted exclusively for Global News, released on Saturday, found that 54 percent expressed support for closer trade relations and economic agreements with China.
The results mark a shift from 2020, when eight in 10 Canadians wanted the country to rely less on the Chinese market amid a nadir in relations caused by allegations of foreign interference against Beijing and the arbitrary arrest of the “two Michaels.”
Darrell Bricker, CEO of Ipsos Public Affairs, says the results of the new survey are “less about China and more about the United States” and the realities of US President Donald Trump’s war economy.
“The reason it’s gone back is not just because people fell in love with China, that’s why the numbers are soft,” Bricker said in an interview.
“The reason they went back is because people think who in the world are we going to trade with.” And the second largest population in the world, and the second largest economy, is probably a place we need to have some relationship with.
Ipsos contacted 2,001 Canadian adults in early December 2025 to conduct a poll.
Carney will be in China for five days starting Tuesday, marking the first official trip to the country by a Canadian prime minister since 2017.
He will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping during this trip, which the Prime Minister’s Office said will be the first meeting of the two leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in South Korea last October.
Relations with Beijing took a sharp turn in 2018 after China jailed Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor for nearly three years, a move widely seen as retaliation for Canada’s arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on US fraud charges.
Although that source of tension was resolved after the release of the trio in 2021, trade relations have continued to sour. Canada has imposed 100 percent tariffs on Chinese electric cars and 25 percent import duties on steel and aluminum over the past two years, in a move similar to the US.
China responded with 100 percent tariffs on various Canadian agricultural products last March, including canola and peas, and 25 percent tariffs on pork and seafood products.
China’s ambassador to Canada said China’s tariffs will be removed if Canada lowers its EV prices. Political leaders in hard-hit provinces like Saskatchewan have called on Ottawa to do everything it can to remove agricultural tariffs.
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Since becoming prime minister, Carney has said it is important to meet again and “reset” with China in the face of Trump’s tariffs. Canada’s foreign policy has since shifted from seeking to isolate China to pursuing a “strategic relationship” that balances cooperation and competition.
Carney said by September 2025 Ottawa must be “clear about where we engage” with China – that Canada can work “deeply” with Beijing on energy, climate change and basic manufacturing, while keeping “guards” on national security issues.
“We have to be really careful about our relationship with China, not trying to widen it and deepen it, exposing ourselves in the future to too many problems,” said Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, a senior fellow at the University of Ottawa who studies Canada-China relations.
“We have to worry about what security measures will be set up in the medium and long term and not be used by China as a border with the US”
He added that Carney must ensure that Canadian businesses are “not taken to the cleaners” when entering the Chinese market and that “we will not allow them anywhere near our advanced technology or artificial intelligence or precious minerals.”
McCuaig-Johnston and Kovrig, now a senior adviser at the International Crisis Group, said Carney should also avoid lowering Canadian EV prices in exchange for China’s tariff relief.
“If Canada does that, it will shut down its auto industry within ten years,” Kovrig said in an interview.
Critics of China and Xi, such as pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong, told Global News that Canada should be careful about deepening economic ties with Beijing. They say the arrests of Kovrig, Spavor and other Canadians in recent years prove that China and Hong Kong are “not safe places” for business and trade.
“We will reward China for what they are doing [by doing business with them]? I don’t think that’s right,” said Andy Wong, president of the Ontario non-profit organization Canada-Hong Kong Link.
Economic benefits versus ‘shared values’?
A Saturday Ipsos poll suggests Canadians are more interested in trade deals that prioritize direct benefits to the Canadian economy and cost of living over issues such as national security, the environment and human rights.
71 percent of those surveyed said benefits to Canadians are very important or very important to the trade relationship, with 26 percent considering it a “deal breaker.”
Two-thirds of respondents to the poll said economic opportunity for Canadian businesses should be prioritized.
That number drops to 60 percent who place importance on human rights, 52 percent on national security and 46 percent on environmental standards and “shared values” between Canada and its trading partners.
Additionally, the survey found that 25 percent of Canadians agreed that Canada should only enter into “value-based trade” agreements with countries that share its values of democracy and human rights, “even if that means slower economic growth.”
“75 others [per cent] he says, ‘Look, I know there are issues here, but the most important thing to me is that it pays for Canada for our economic needs, and it’s going to pay for people like myself,'” Bricker said.
“I think in times of abundance, when people don’t feel threatened, conflicts of values become more important in the conversation. But … Donald Trump has moved the conversation to a place where people are thinking about themselves.”
Still, Kovrig warned those values should not be overlooked when doing business with China.
“Economic cooperation with China now comes with the highest number of measures to take to protect democracy, human rights, security and independence,” he said.
Just under 20 per cent of Canadians surveyed by Ipsos say Canada should trade with countries with different values to use trade as a way to improve human rights.
A nearly equal number, 18 per cent, said Canada should pursue “realistic trade” that ignores the human rights records and domestic politics of trading partners, as long as the agreements offer mutual economic benefits.
Just 16 percent say they support protectionist policies that would see Canada focus on domestic production while reducing reliance on international trade.
— via files from Global David Akin and The Canadian Press
This is one of the findings of an Ipsos survey conducted between Dec. 5 and 11, 2025 as part of our combined study of Trump, Tariffs, and Turmoil. In this survey, a sample of n=2,001 Canadians aged 18+ were interviewed online, using the Ipsos I-Say panel and non-panel sources, and respondents received little incentive for their participation. Proportions and weights were used to estimate demographics to ensure that the sample composition reflects that of adults according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the entire sample area. The accuracy of Ipsos polls, which involve non-probability sampling, is measured using a confidence interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ± 2.7 per cent, 19 times out of 20, when all Canadians are polled. The loyalty period will be wider among smaller groups of people. All sample surveys and surveys may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to, coverage error and measurement error. Ipsos adheres to the disclosure standards established by CRIC, which can be found here:
