The sectors targeted tell you everything about Beijing's strategic priorities: solar panels, semiconductors, aluminium, steel and shipbuilding. The commanding heights of industrial power and strategic autonomy — all systematically subsidized to dominate. 3/7

Chinese firms received 3–8x as much government support as their OECD competitors. Every year. For two decades. And nearly 60% of Chinese firms' global market share gains since 2005 can be explained by those subsidies. That's not competition. That's a state-funded conquest of global markets. 2/7

The numbers are in — and they're damning. New @oecd-ocde.bsky.social data show industrial subsidies hit their highest level since the 2008 global financial crisis — $108 billion across 15 major sectors in 2024 alone. But the headline figure buries the real story. 1/7

Worth your time this week: Jonathan Czin’s essay in @foreignaffairs.com, “The False Promise of U.S.-China Stability.” 1/10

The Chinese Communist Party’s economic strategy is not free trade. It is aggressive mercantilism. Xi Jinping has been explicit about the goals: to seize the commanding heights of advanced technology and manufacturing, increase other countries’ dependence on China and minimize reliance on others. 1/6

Like most Canadians, I don’t usually agree with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, nor do I care for his abrasive style. But on at least one issue, he’s right: Canada should not become a “drop-off port” for Chinese EVs entering North America. 1/8

Hostage-taking by nation-states is a growing problem. Once the domain of terrorist and criminal organizations, it's now a tool wielded by Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and Venezuela to extract prisoner swaps, payments and sanctions relief. 1/10

Canada’s auto industry ties with the U.S. are under pressure and Ottawa is looking for options. But moves toward China risk signaling unreliability in Washington and could trigger a stronger response across the broader economic relationship. 1/6

Canada’s quota for Chinese electric vehicles is now in place. The question is no longer whether to allow them in, but how tightly to manage the risk. Very tightly, I’d argue, which is what I told the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry and Technology. 1/8

The Trump-Xi summit in May was not a reset. It was a pause to reload. 1/7

When no one takes the wind, the pack stalls. Same in China-West relations: caught between Trump's tariff crosswind and Beijing's coercion headwind, leaders draft — accept the choreography, chase "deliverables," absorb the retaliation. Every solo "win" weakens collective leverage. 2/4

The Tour de France just left Barcelona. Watch the pelotons — riders taking turns in the wind, drafting, protecting leaders. They’re game theory on wheels, the best metaphor I've found for the West's uncoordinated China diplomacy under Trump. 🧵1/4

Radio host Mike Smyth asked why Canadians shouldn’t buy Chinese EVs. Because the hidden costs are high. The short-term price advantage is real. But the playbook is well documented: once domestic competitors are gone, the cheap prices go with them. 1/2

Deeper economic entanglement with China is not the answer as the EVs-for-canola deal begins to move from policy into practice. As I told Parliament this week, this is not a long-term route to Canada’s goals. It’s a dead end. 1/5

China’s officials take advantage of leaders who are focused on short-term business deals while they play the long game. 1/3

Canada’s EVs-for-canola deal is not a normal trade arrangement. It provides five years of EV market access in exchange for canola tariff relief, an asymmetric deal where China holds the leverage. 1/6

De Gaulle predicted "Europe will be united by the Chinese." Macron is trying to prove him right. A record EU-China deficit is gutting industry. Most leaders' visits to Xi are buck-passing, not hedging. At least Macron is balancing, and trying to bring Europeans with him. Will they rally or delay? 👇

Canadian court documents reveal that China’s Ministry of Public Security targeted at least 25 Canadian residents through Fox Hunt and SkyNet. Beijing calls them anti-corruption operations. Rights advocates say they’re also tools of transnational repression. 1/4

Canada’s EV policy is developing a coherence problem. Industry Minister Mélanie Joly is in China this week meeting EV makers BYD, Chery, and Geely to discuss building vehicles in Canada. 1/8

For years, Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy has quietly laid institutional foundations for more influence in Asia. But against such a vast geographic and economic region, measurable impact has been hard to discern. Until now. 1/6

Wang Yi told visiting U.S. senators that Washington should “address mutual misperceptions,” “develop a rational perception of China,” (implying the current one is irrational) and “earnestly respect China’s core interests.” What’s a “rational perception”? Whatever the CCP tells you it is. 1/2

Australia’s problem with the Trump-Xi summit is that it stabilized things just enough to make the next phase more ambiguous. Lower tension helps: less volatility around trade, tariffs and rare earths eases pressure on fuel, shipping, commodities and exports. 1/3

World leaders have been beating a steady path this year to see Xi Jinping. Through the first five months of 2026, 21 heads of state or government have visited China. 🧵1/6

Japan should work with allies to anchor an Indo-Pacific balancing coalition — and the Trump-Xi summit showed exactly why, I told Jiji Press. 🧵1/6

Trump’s China trip was more spectacle than substance. Xi’s real win: getting the US to adopt his “constructive strategic stability” frame for relations. Now he can portray any US moves on tech, tariffs, or Taiwan, as Trump breaking his word. More in my Foreign Press Association interview below.

Beijing’s biggest win at the Trump-Xi summit wasn’t soybeans or airplanes, but getting Washington to use CCP words to describe what was agreed and treat those words as binding. 1/4

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi was in Ottawa last week — his first visit since 2016. Restoration of a senior National Security and Rule of Law Dialogue last held in November 2018. Foreign Ministers Wang and Anand also agreed to meet annually, which at least keeps files moving. 1/7

China’s foreign policy chief, Wang Yi, is in Canada this week. On his last visit in 2016, he barked at reporters for raising human rights. This time: no press conference. Still, here are 11 questions Canadians should be asking. 1/14

Wang Yi’s visit to Canada this week is significant, says Vina Nadjibulla in a new article. It’s the first bilateral visit to Ottawa by a Chinese foreign minister in 10 years, and the clearest sign yet that the thaw in relations is moving from signaling into a much more consequential phase. 1/5

Canadian MP Michael Chong is in Taiwan this week despite objections from Beijing. “Canada is a sovereign and independent country,” he said, and does not take direction from a foreign government on where Canadian MPs can travel or where Navy warships transit. Good for him.