More Canadians now trust China under Xi than the US under Trump: poll – National
As US President Donald Trump enters part of his second term, a new poll suggests that more Canadians have a more positive view of China than the United States.
A recent poll by the Pew Research Center shows that two in five (44 percent) Canadian respondents had a positive view of China, while one in three (33 percent) said the same about the US.
Last year, Canadians were found to be “equally fond” of both countries.
Canada has for years been part of an international effort to criticize China for human rights abuses against the Uyghur people, a minority Muslim group that has faced a long campaign of detention, and subsequent imprisonment, by China.
An estimated 12 million Uyghurs live in Xinjiang, officially known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). The United Nations (UN) estimated in 2018 that up to one million Uyghurs were being held in what resembled a “massive prison camp shrouded in secrecy.”
Canada imposed sanctions on four Chinese officials and one organization on March 22, 2021, with former prime minister Justin Trudeau saying “serious and systematic human rights violations” were taking place.
China’s nearly three-year arbitrary detention of Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig has further strained diplomatic relations between the countries. At the time of their release, 115 Canadians were still being held in Chinese prisons, Global Affairs Canada told Global News on September 26, 2021.
China also executed four Canadian citizens in early 2025, with Beijing saying at the time that the four were dual citizens and had been prosecuted on drug charges.
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Abbotsford, BC, native Robert Schellenberg has been on China’s death row since 2019.
The federal government said at the time it “strongly condemned” the killings, but Prime Minister Mark Carney has repeatedly reached out to Beijing to freeze ties and expand trade since taking office last year.
Canada is not the only country that favors China over the US
The survey asked 1,020 Canadians by telephone between Feb. 8 and May 13 about their views on the US and China, including respondents’ foreign policy stances, ratings of each country’s presidents and respect for personal freedom.
None of the Canadians surveyed came to the conclusion of preferring China to the US, and the survey said that “China is now seen as more attractive than the US in most of the 36 countries.”
“During the first two years of Trump’s second term, the US president’s rating got worse. Even though many people still don’t trust him. [Chinese President] Xi [Jinping]positive views of him are more widespread, and overall they now say they trust Xi more than Trump,” the survey reads.
The US is viewed more favorably than China in only six countries, including four in the Asia-Pacific region: India, Japan, the Philippines and South Korea.
Tensions between the US and Canada have been high since the US administration imposed tariffs on Canada as early as 2025 and Trump’s repeated threats to make Canada the “51st country.”
A letter sent by US Republicans to Carney on Wednesday about the Canadian wildfire smoke billowing into the US states that “sovereignty comes with responsibility, and the responsibility to prevent a disaster that appears to be falling into another country’s airspace has not been met.”
Carney visited China in January, and met with Xi. Carney’s office said his visit focused on “trade, energy, agriculture and international security cooperation.”
This was the first visit by a Canadian prime minister to China in eight years.
As a result, Canada and China reached an initial trade agreement in which Beijing agreed to reduce or eliminate certain tariffs on Canadian agricultural products and Canada agreed to reduce tariffs on some Chinese electric vehicles.
Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi also made a three-day trip to Ottawa in June that included a meeting with Carney.
The last time Wang was in Ottawa 10 years ago, he lashed out at a Canadian journalist who asked about human rights in China at a joint press conference with then-foreign minister Stephane Dion.
During a visit in June, Foreign Minister Anita Anand said the economic relationship between Canada and China is “important.”
“We are committed to growing this relationship with a commitment to increase exports to China by 50 percent by 2030, while protecting Canada’s interests and national security,” he said at the time.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
