The agreements Prime Minister Mark Carney brokered over the two days of his Beijing visit are the result of months of diplomatic work and cultural knowledge, international relations experts say.
Carleton University international affairs professor Fen Osler Hampson said Carney "would have not gotten on the plane" without knowing first he had "something big, some big bacon to bring back home."
"The team supporting the ambassador would have definitely been working overtime on this one."
On Friday, Carney announced China had agreed to lower agricultural tariffs in exchange for some access for Chinese electric vehicles to the Canadian market, and that Beijing had agreed to eventually loosen its visa requirements for Canadian visitors.
A day prior, he oversaw the signing of agreements touching on finance, pet food, lumber, oil and green technology.
Asia Pacific Foundation vice-president Vina Nadjibulla said the agreements are the product of "an iterative process" of discussions between bureaucrats and political leaders that required each side to build momentum ahead of the high-level visit.
That process likely kicked off around the time of Carney's phone call with Premier Li Qiang in June, which was followed by two meetings with Li at the United Nations last September and then the October meeting in South Korea between Carney and President Xi Jinping.
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