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Prime Minister Mark Carney’s electric vehicle and agri-food deal with China won plaudits from canola producers and western premiers but garnered criticism from Ontario’s Doug Ford and automakers.

The agreement will see Canada ease tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles in exchange for China dropping levies on Canadian canola, lobsters, crabs and peas.

It marks a decisive U-turn in economic ties between the two countries that had been strained over the past year.

In a move seemingly aimed at appeasing the U.S., Canada in 2024 imposed a 100 per cent tariff on Chinese EVs and steel and aluminium.

China responded in March 2025 with a 100 per cent tariff on canola oil, peas and other products, along with 25 per cent on pork and seafood products, such as lobster.

As part of the pact reached on Friday, Canada will allow up to 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles into the Canadian market at a 6.1 per cent tariff rate.

By 2030, half of those imported vehicles will cost less than $35,000 — a measure that Carney said will ensure EVs are more affordable for Canadians.

Marco Vigliotti reports.

U.S. President Donald Trump says it’s a good thing Prime Minister Mark Carney has signed a trade deal with China.

Speaking to reporters as he left the White House today, Trump said that if Carney can get a deal with China, he should do it.

Canada reached a deal with Beijing earlier Friday to slash tariffs on a set number of Chinese electric vehicles in exchange for China cutting duties on agriculture products, including canola.

Canada’s deal marks a major break from the United States as Ottawa deals with massive U.S. tariffs that are rattling Canadian industries.

CP has that one.

The leader of the Parti Québécois says it’s time to refocus the political debate in Quebec to sovereignty following what he described as Premier François Legault’s failure to chart a positive path for the province within Canada.

Legault, who announced his resignation on Wednesday, failed to secure gains for Quebec in his more than seven years in office, proving that the Québécois nation cannot be autonomous within Canada, says PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon.

In co-founding the Coalition Avenir Québec in 2011, Legault had promised Quebecers a third route — an alternative to the traditional sovereigntist-federalist dichotomy. Legault’s party would be a coalition of sovereigntists and federalists, focusing on strengthening the Qubecois identity and economy, and taking the prospect of a referendum off the table.

“There is no third way possible in Canada,” St-Pierre Plamondon told reporters in Quebec City on Friday. “It’s either the status quo with the decline that comes with it, or independence — that’s the legacy. That will be François Legault’s legacy.”

CP also has this one.

In Other Headlines:

Internationally:

US President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to place tariffs on nations that do not go along with his ambitions to annex Greenland.

Trump said at a White House meeting that he “may put a tariff on countries if they don’t go along with Greenland”, which is a self-governing territory controlled by Denmark.

He did not say which countries might be hit with new tariffs, or what authority he would invoke to use such import taxes in pursuit of his goal.

Along with Denmark and Greenland, other countries oppose his plans, and many in the US have expressed scepticism about an acquisition. As Trump spoke, a bipartisan congressional delegation was visiting Greenland to show support for the territory.

AP has that story.

Meanwhile, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has vowed she will lead the country “when the right time comes”.

“There’s a mission, and we are going to turn Venezuela into that land of grace, and I believe I will be elected when the right time comes as president of Venezuela, the first woman president,” she told Fox News.

Her comments come a day after she gave President Donald Trump her Nobel Peace Prize medal, calling it a recognition of his commitment to Venezuela’s freedom.

The US seized Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas on 3 January and removed him to New York to face various drugs and weapons charges.

Read that story on the BBC.

In other international headlines:

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The Kicker

Winter weather has returned to Ottawa, with temperatures hovering around the -20°C tonight.

That can only mean one thing…

The Skateway has reopened, with ‘Very Good’ ice conditions on almost all the sections, according to the National Capital Commission.

Happy skating, Ottawa!