(MENAFN- AFP) Canada and China have agreed to begin talks for a possible free-trade accord and are aiming to double bilateral commerce by 2025, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday.
"We've agreed to launch exploratory talks towards a potential free-trade agreement between Canada and China," Trudeau said at a joint news conference with visiting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.
"And further to this, we've set an ambitious new goal to double bilateral trade between Canada and China by 2025."
China is Canada's second-largest trading partner after the United States, with trade last year exceeding Can$85 billion ($64.5 billion USD).
"We know that there is a huge amount of untapped potential in our commercial relationship," Trudeau noted.
The Canadian leader also announced a lifting of Chinese bans on Canadian canola and beef exports, and a tourism agreement that seeks to double two-way visits by 2025.
Li, meanwhile, praised a reboot of Sino-Canadian relations after a decade of cooling, which had been kicked off during Trudeau's visit to China at the end of August.
"We believe that China and Canada have extensive common interests and good relations," Li said through an interpreter.
"On economic and trade relations, we reached a lot of new agreements, and we stand ready to work with Canada to explore and to study how we can work to set up a free-trade area," he said.
Last month, Canada also said it would apply to join the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which has been criticized by its neighbor and closest ally, the United States.
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