Justin Trudeau set to meet Xi Jinping on second day of China trip

Justin Trudeau meets China’s powerful leader, President Xi Jinping, later today on his second full day in China as talks continue to formally kickstart free trade talks between the two countries.
International Trade Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne was continuing the trade discussions Tuesday morning and skipped a roundtable that Trudeau led with about two dozen Canadian and Chinese business leaders. Trudeau began the day meeting with a group involved in an education project aimed at women in rural China headed by a British Columbia woman.
The main event of Trudeau’s day on Tuesday comes when he meets Xi behind closed doors in Beijing before flying south to the city of Guangzhou for the Fortune Global Forum, a major China imposes a 12-per cent tariff on Canadian beef, while Australia faces a seven per cent tariff that is gradually being phased out through their free trade agreement with China, he said.
The agriculture sector’s enthusiasm for free trade with China contrasts with some other 600 businesses, academics and civil society groups.
Some expressed fears that a free trade pact with China could kill Canadian jobs and reduce their ability to compete against China’s lax labour standards, lower environmental requirements and state subsidies.
Masswohl said opening new markets for Canadian beef in China is crucial. “Right now our biggest risk is we ship 270,000 tonnes of beef to the United States, and possibly facing losing that NAFTA agreement with the United States, which I think is a possibility.”
Trudeau told a large boardroom of three-dozen business leaders on Tuesday morning that China and Canada are continuing their exploratory discussions on a comprehensive trade deal.
The government wants to establish a framework with China that would broaden the talks to include the environment, governance, labour and gender issues before deciding to formally begin trade negotiations.