Beijing has also launched an anti-dumping investigation into Canadian canola that is set to conclude in September.
Canola, also known as rapeseed, was one of Canada’s top exports to China, the world’s number 1 agricultural importer, prior to Beijing’s investigation.
“The two governments should listen to and respond to the people’s calls and do more to deepen the friendly cooperation and enhance mutual understanding and trust,” Li told Carney.
China is Canada’s second-largest trading partner, trailing far behind the US. Canada exported US$47 billion worth of goods to the world’s second-largest economy in 2024, according to Chinese customs data.
Beijing is also willing to work with Canada to safeguard multilateralism and free trade, Li added.
Beijing’s olive branch to Ottawa also comes ahead of a Group of Seven summit of leaders in Canada in mid-June.
Two Chinese researchers were allegedly involved in what could have developed into an attack on America’s food supply.
Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, were charged with conspiracy, smuggling goods into the United States, false statements, and visa fraud, according to a Department of Justice news release.
The release said they are accused of “smuggling into America a fungus called Fusarium graminearum, which scientific literature classifies as a potential agroterrorism weapon.”
According to the release, China’s communist government funded Jian’s research in China. The complaint said that when law enforcement scanned her electronic devices, they found documentation of her membership in and loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party. Liu, who has claimed he was Jian’s boyfriend, also conducted research on the same pathogen.
Liu has admitted to authorities that he smuggled Fusarium graminearum into America to conduct research with Jian.
New… I can confirm that the FBI arrested a Chinese national within the United States who allegedly smuggled a dangerous biological pathogen into the country.
The individual, Yunqing Jian, is alleged to have smuggled a dangerous fungus called “Fusarium graminearum,” which is an…
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) June 3, 2025
National security authorities and members of Congress are raising alarm over the alleged plot by two romantically involved Chinese researchers to smuggle samples of a dangerous crop-killing fungus into the US.
Yunquing Jian, 33, a Communist Party loyalist and lab researcher at the University of Michigan who received Chinese government funding for her work, plotted the illicit transport of the pathogen with her boyfriend, Zunyong Liu, 34, the FBI alleged.
Liu was was caught at Detroit Metropolitan Airport last July after allegedly attempting to sneak packages of Fusarium graminearum into the country, the feds said.
“This is an attack on the American food supply,” one senior Trump administration official told The Post.
Yunqing Jian (pictured) initially denied that she was aware of her boyfriend’s intent to smuggle the pathogen. University of Michigan
As U.S. tariffs tighten the screws on China’s export machine, Beijing is striking back with strategic precision. Export restrictions on rare earths are now Beijing’s latest move to break down European trade barriers and push back against escalating pressure from Washington.
In today’s global trade standoff, the gloves are off. The U.S. is wielding its market clout — 25% of global consumption originates from the American domestic market. Anyone in the export business must deal with the United States. China, meanwhile, holds an current monopoly on rare earths — and is making it clear it will not hesitate to weaponize that dominance. The stakes are rising, and national interests now override globalist courtesies.
Europe is learning the hard way: in geopolitics, there are no friends, only temporary alliances. China’s tightened export controls on rare earth elements risk plunging Germany’s industrial sector into a severe resource crisis. With nearly 85% of global rare earth refining under its control, Beijing is the chief supplier of key metals like dysprosium, terbium, and yttrium — critical for electric motors, medical tech, and defense systems.
Since April 2025, access to these raw materials has been restricted to licensed exporters only — a de facto embargo. The fallout is immediate: several German manufacturers have already been forced to scale back operations. Others face complete shutdowns. Industrial metal prices continue climbing, and the fragility of global supply chains is now exposed in brutal detail. Europe’s resource dependency is becoming a major liability — and a strategic weakness in the coming trade war negotiations.
Over the past couple weeks, the U.S. government has unleashed a barrage of policies that would restrict the ability of Chinese students to study in the United States. These measures strike at a key pillar of U.S.-China relations, and they have generated intense anxiety among current and prospective Chinese exchange students. According to data from the Institute of International Education, between 2023 and 2024, there were 277,398 Chinese students studying in the U.S., generating over $14.2 billion for the American economy.
A cable signed last Tuesday by Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered American embassies around the world to stop scheduling new appointments for student visas and announced an expansion of social-media vetting of student applicants. The week prior, the Department of Homeland Security revoked Harvard’s ability to enroll international students, who currently make up 27 percent of Harvard’s total enrollment. Last Wednesday, the State Department announced it would “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields,” and “enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications from the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong.” (On Thursday, a U.S. federal judge extended an order blocking the government measures related to Harvard.)
WASHINGTON: Two Chinese scientists have been charged with allegedly smuggling a toxic fungus into the United States that they planned to research at an American university, the Justice Department said on Tuesday (Jun 4).
Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, are charged with conspiracy, smuggling, false statements, and visa fraud, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan said in a statement.
Jian is in US custody while Liu’s whereabouts are unknown.
The Justice Department said the pair conspired to smuggle a fungus called Fusarium graminearum into the US that causes “head blight”, a disease of wheat, barley, maize and rice.
This Wednesday, June 4 marks the 36th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre. Hongkongers had for decades commemorated the date with a large-scale vigil at Victoria Park, until the 2020 National Security Law made such public demonstrations subject to harsh judicial punishment. In the lead-up to this year’s anniversary, much like last year, Hong Kong authorities continued to restrict opportunities for publicly observing the date.
On Tuesday, reporters asked Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee whether on June 4 residents could legally light candles or even show up to Causeway Bay, the area in which Victoria Park is located. Lee made no direct comment but stated, “Any activities held on any date must comply with the law.” Local media reported that people who were stopped outside Victoria Park on June 4 last year were called by the city’s police ahead of this year’s anniversary and asked about their plans. On Tuesday, performance artist Chan Mei-tung was stopped and searched by planclothes police in Causeway Bay while standing in front of a store chewing gum, and was later released. On that same date in 2022 and 2023, she was arrested outside the same store while peeling potatoes. Between 2020 and 2024, 82 people in Hong Kong were arrested for commemorating the Tiananmen Massacre around its anniversary, and among them 43 people were convicted and sentenced to a total of over 20 years in prison, according to a tally by Brian Kern.
President Trump’s renewed tariff war with China is escalating tensions far beyond trade policy. Despite a brief truce in May, Trump recently admitted that negotiating with Xi Jinping is “extremely hard,” and both sides have since accused each other of violating the agreement. As economic diplomacy unravels, the broader U.S.–China relationship grows more volatile, raising the risk that Beijing may abandon any remaining hopes for peaceful coexistence.
A conflict between the United States and China is becoming increasingly plausible, and perhaps even inevitable. Tensions in the Taiwan Strait have reached dangerous new heights, fueled by Beijing’s military modernization, its sharpened rhetoric, and its belief that Taiwan and the United States are edging closer to crossing red lines. While China still claims to prefer peaceful reunification, its rapid expansion of capabilities, including amphibious assault craft, cable-cutting tools, and joint-force interoperability, signals preparation for a military solution.
China’s greyzone operations around Taiwan, such as unannounced drills, airspace violations, and undersea cable sabotage, have become routine. This normalization of pressure steadily erodes the status quo and raises the risk of miscalculation or deliberate escalation. The shifting political climate in Taiwan under President Lai Ching-te, who has taken a hard stance against Chinese influence, and a more assertive posture from Washington have further narrowed the space for de-escalation.
Under Trump’s second term, the United States is gradually abandoning its long-held policy of strategic ambiguity. His administration has sharply increased arms sales to Taiwan, removed diplomatic language opposing Taiwanese independence, sent U.S. troops to train Taiwanese forces, and reaffirmed ties through legislation and senior-level visits. While aimed at strengthening deterrence, these steps may convince Beijing that time is running out to forcibly achieve unification before U.S. commitments harden into irreversible guarantees.
EMU president reaffirms commitment to ‘protecting U.S. national security’
Eastern Michigan University is cutting ties with two Chinese universities following national security concerns from Republican lawmakers.
The school is ending its engineering teaching partnerships with Guangxi University and with Beibu Gulf University, according to a Wednesday news release from EMU.
The decision came in response to a February letter from Michigan Representatives John Moolenaar and Tim Walberg, urging EMU, along with Oakland University and the University of Detroit Mercy, to end their partnerships with Chinese universities.
EMU President James Smith sent a letter to the congressmen May 28 announcing the decision and reaffirming the school’s commitment to “protecting U.S. national security.”
For decades, the [Chinese Communist] party has sent thousands of mid-career and senior bureaucrats to pursue executive training and postgraduate studies on U.S. campuses, with Harvard University a coveted destination described by some in China as the top “party school” outside the country.
Alumni of such programs include a former vice president and Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s top negotiator in trade talks with the first Trump administration.
Most Americans assume the United States is the world’s unrivaled nuclear superpower. The truth is, America’s nuclear stockpile has shrunk significantly. Meanwhile, China is building nuclear weapons at a rapid pace, and arms experts believe the world’s security is now at serious risk due to the communist regime’s expansionist schemes.
Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has dramatically reduced the number of nuclear weapons it has deployed or in storage. That arsenal today is roughly 85 percent smaller than at the height of the nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union, and the number of operational nukes is tiny compared to 40 years ago.
America’s nuclear stockpile has fallen to levels not seen since the 1960s, while China has embarked on an unprecedented nuclear buildup.