BEIJING (AP) — A leader of Canada is visiting China this week for the first time in nearly a decade, a bid to rebuild the country's fractured relations with the world's second-largest economy — and reduce Canada's dependence on the United States.

The push by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who arrives Wednesday, is part of a major rethink as ties sour with the U.S. — the world's No. 1 economy and long the largest trading partner for Canada by far.

Carney aims to double Canada’s non-American exports in the next decade in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs and the American leader's musing that Canada could become “the 51st state.”

“At a time of global trade disruption, Canada is focused on building a more competitive, sustainable and independent economy,” Carney said in a statement. “We’re forging new partnerships around the world to transform our economy from one that has been reliant on a single trade partner.”

Carney will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday and other officials.

Canadian officials, in a briefing with reporters, said that it's an attempt re-energize a dormant strategic partnership and also noted that Washington's intervention in Venezuela is far reaching.

Canadian officials said that there will be progress on trade irritants with Beijing, but not a definitive elimination of some tariffs.

Two of Carney's lawmakers, meanwhile, said they are quitting a sponsored trip to Taiwan early to “avoid confusion” about Canada’s China policy as Carney prepares to visit Beijing.

In a joint statement, Liberal lawmakers Helena Jaczek and Marie-France Lalonde said while they are returning to Canada based on “advice from the government,” it does not change Canada’s stance on Taiwan. China views self-governed Taiwan as its sovereign territory and has said it would take it by force if needed.

Michael Chong, the opposition Conservative foreign affairs critic, said the Liberal decision to quit the trip early is “nothing short of kowtowing to Beijing’s authoritarianism."

Carney will be in China until Saturday, and then visit Qatar before attending the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, next week.

Trump’s tariffs have pushed both Canada and China to look for opportunities to strengthen international cooperation, said Zhu Feng, the dean of the School of International Studies at China’s Nanjing University.

“Carney’s visit does reflect the new space for further development in China-Canadian relations under the current U.S. trade protectionism,” he said. But he cautioned against overestimating the importance of the visit, noting that Canada remains a U.S. ally. The two North American nations also share a deep cultural heritage and a common geography.

Carney has been in office less than a year, succeeding Justin Trudeau, who was prime minister for nearly a decade. He's not the first new leader of a country to try to repair relations with China.

Australian Premier Anthony Albanese has reset ties since his Labor Party came to power in 2022. Relations had deteriorated under the previous conservative government, leading to Chinese trade restrictions on wine, beef, coal and other Australian exports.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has sought to repair ties with China since his Labour Party ousted the Conservatives in 2024. He is reportedly planning a visit to China, though the government has not confirmed that.

The two governments have differences, with Starmer raising the case of former Hong Kong media magnate Jimmy Lai, a British citizen whose conviction under a national security law has raised concerns about press freedom, in talks with Xi in late 2024 in Brazil.

An editorial in China's state-run Global Times newspaper welcomed Carney's visit as a new starting point and called on Canada to lift “unreasonable tariff restrictions” and advance more pragmatic cooperation.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Monday that China looks forward to Carney’s visit as an opportunity to “consolidate the momentum of improvement in China-Canada relations.”