Prime Minister Mark Carney hailed Canada's improving ties with China as well as the leadership of President Xi Jinping on Thursday, declaring their nations were charting a new course in cooperation at a time of global division and disorder.

China responded by imposing duties of 100% on Canadian canola oil and meal and 25% on pork and seafood. It added a 75.8% tariff on canola seeds last August. Collectively, the import taxes effectively closed the Chinese market to Canadian canola exports, an industry group said.

Ford predicted Carney’s move would further raise the ire of current President Donald Trump, who is already in a trade war with Canada.

“Diplomacy is necessary, grinning is optional, and looking like a supplicant is undignified,” Kovrig said in an interview airing Sunday on CTV’s Question Period. “That’s not a good look. So, the optics could have been better.”

Carney's visit comes after he and several of his cabinet ministers met with top political and business leaders in Beijing, where they worked to forge stronger trade and bilateral ties with China.

Canada's Mark Carney made a major move away from the US and towards a rival, amid increasing hostility from the nation's closest ally - the US

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney gave a rambling response Friday when asked by a reporter to clarify his declaration of

Prime Minister Mark Carney witnessed the signing of an agreement to co-operate more with China on clean and conventional energy the first day of talks in Beijing on Thursday, after years of difficult relations between the two countries.