For decades, Beijing has been openly using tariffs to compel behaviour and silence criticism from its trading partners

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With Prime Minister Mark Carney visiting China this week, it’s part of an explicit bid to steer Canada closer to the Chinese orbit as a reaction to the aggressive trade policy of U.S. President Donald Trump.

But in so doing, Canada is signing on with a trade partner whose record of using trade as a political weapon is even more aggressive than Trump’s.

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As far back as 2010, Beijing cut off salmon exports from Norway shortly after the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.

Although Beijing had warned of consequences if Liu got the award, the salmon embargo was ultimately premised on state accusations that Norwegian salmon was filled with contaminants.

In 2021, the small European nation of Lithuania needed only to open a consulate in Taiwan for Beijing to retaliate with a blanket ban on Lithuanian exports ranging........

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