Meanwhile, the Canada China Business Council is organizing a cleantech mission to China<\/a> in Beijing in November.\u00a0<\/p>\n While Carney has gone to great lengths recently to placate Canada’s fossil fuel industry \u2014 most notably by promising a new pipeline to the B.C. coast \u2014 some experts suggest a new relationship with China could provide an efficient way to get back on track with the clean energy transition that much of the rest of the world is already undertaking.\u00a0<\/p>\n “China is a global clean energy superpower,” said Rachel Doran, executive director of Clean Energy Canada, and given the size and sophistication of China’s sector, Canada “can’t have a strategy around the transition that the world is experiencing without having a strategy around China.”<\/p>\n “I think that has motivated some of what the [Canadian] government has tried to do.”<\/p>\n China as clean-energy partner<\/p>\n China’s dominance in clean-energy manufacturing is staggering<\/a>. It’s responsible for around 80 per cent of the world’s solar panels, 60 per cent of wind turbines and 75 per cent of electric vehicles and their batteries, according to the Climate Action Tracker<\/a>.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, Chinese manufacturer BYD surpassed Tesla in global EV sales<\/a> for the first time. To illustrate its rapid rise, China went from exporting 28,000 EVs in June 2019 to exporting 316,000 in June 2026.<\/p>\n China is already partnering with other countries on clean energy \u2014 such as a venture with the United Arab Emirates to build out wind and solar projects in the Global South<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to Bijan Ahmadi, executive director and COO of the Canada China Business Council, there are opportunities for Canada to align “with China\u2019s manufacturing scale, capital and ability to deploy technology rapidly.”<\/p>\n “The new Canada-China strategic partnership provides a foundation for this work, specifically identifying clean technology, batteries, solar, wind and energy storage as areas for potential cooperation,” he said.<\/p>\n Back in 2024, Canada imposed 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese EVs, largely at the behest of our southern neighbours. Moe Kabbara, CEO of Canadian non-profit Transition Accelerator, thinks Carney’s decision to allow a small number of Chinese EVs into the country was a smart overture.<\/p>\n “It recognizes that Chinese electric vehicles are going to be unavoidable for the North American market,” he said. “That should be applauded, in terms of departing from the U.S. on a very important trade policy issue.”<\/p>\n WATCH | Trump says he doesn’t need Canada as Carney heads to China: Trump says he doesn\u2019t need Canada as Carney heads to China<\/p>\n As Prime Minister Mark Carney heads to China to ease trade tensions, President Donald Trump reiterated that the U.S. doesn\u2019t need Canadian goods or the CUSMA. Carney was also urged by Ontario\u2019s premier to not back down on tariffs for Chinese EVs. <\/p>\n Kabbara says it also telegraphed a strategy: Rather than letting Chinese EVs overwhelm the domestic market, the Canadian government is trying to find ways to make it mutually beneficial.\u00a0<\/p>\n During her recent trip to Beijing, Joly met with five Chinese EV companies in order to negotiate a way to trade selective exposure to the Canadian market for information-sharing and potential joint ventures that, as Kabbara put it, would “allow us to have an auto sector that continues to be vibrant and prosperous.”\u00a0<\/p>\n He said it’s a bit of a role reversal.<\/p>\n “The Chinese used the model of joint ventures and tech transfers and IP transfers in the ’80s and the ’90s to build up their auto sector with Western automakers. Now, the script has flipped, where we have an opportunity to actually learn from the Chinese when it comes to electric vehicles, battery technology and supply chain optimization.”<\/p>\n Critical access to minerals<\/p>\n Canada’s oil and gas is obviously of interest to a country with a population as large as China’s, but Kabbara said that’s a short-term advantage.<\/p>\n In the longer term, he said, one thing that makes Canada an attractive partner to China is our critical minerals \u2014 such as copper, cobalt and chromium \u2014 which would allow us to establish domestic supply chains for clean-energy manufacturing of solar panels, wind turbines and batteries.<\/p>\n Industry players say the attitude between the two countries has changed. Wenran Jiang, president of the Canada-China Energy and Environment Forum, wrote last month in the Edmonton Journal<\/a> that “after years of frosty diplomacy and mutual suspicion, Canada and China are quietly getting back to business in the energy sector, and they are doing it with a refreshing sense of pragmatism.”<\/p>\n WATCH | China looking for trading partners that ‘don’t use energy for coercion,’ Hodgson says: China is looking for trading partners that ‘don’t use energy for coercion,’ Hodgson says<\/p>\n Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Tim Hodgson, who took questions alongside Industry Minister M\u00e9lanie Joly during a trip to China, did not offer specific details when asked about potential energy exports to China but said officials there are looking for reliable partners and ‘want more of what we’ve got.’<\/p>\n For one thing, China offers Canadian cleantech businesses a market that’s already much further along in the energy transition. In May, China’s Envision Energy and Canada’s Cape Breton China Corp. announced a strategic partnership<\/a> with plans to develop a hybrid wind and battery storage project in Sydney, N.S.<\/p>\n Ahmadi from the Canada China Business Council says the cleantech mission to Beijing this fall was developed “in response to growing interest from Canadian clean-technology companies seeking opportunities in China\u2019s low-carbon economy.”\u00a0<\/p>\n The aim of the mission is “to help Canadian companies assess the market, meet potential customers, investors and partners, build commercial relationships and diversify their export opportunities.”<\/p>\n Addressing security, privacy risks<\/p>\n While China is leading the way on this transition, relying on the country too heavily for Canada’s clean energy solutions is not without its challenges \u2014 or critics.\u00a0<\/p>\n The EV imports, minimal as they may be, have spooked many auto industry insiders<\/a> over fears that cheap Chinese EVs would undercut the domestic market<\/a> already threatened by Trump’s ongoing tariff strategy.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1785777687_422_default.jpg\")
An aerial view of the solar panels at the CNNC Tianwan tidal flat photovoltaic power plant in Lianyungang, in China’s eastern Jiangsu province, on April 19. (CN-STR\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1785777688_525_default.jpg\")
A woman takes a selfie in front of electric vehicles by Chinese EV manufacturer XPeng in the Port of Guangzhou, China’s southern Guangdong province, in February 2025. (Pedro Pardo\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1785777688_486_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1785777689_393_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\n