Canadian government says Chinese trade is vital to Canada’s future growth

Global Business

Last year, trade between Canada and China totaled around $65-billion, making China Canada’s second-biggest trade partner behind the U.S. Hoping to push that figure higher, a new renminbi, or RMB, trading hub in Toronto. And Canadian companies are rushing to cash in. Kristiaan Yeo filed this report live from Toronto.

Canadian government says Chinese trade is vital to Canada\\\'s future growth

Last year, trade between Canada and China totaled around $65-billion, making China Canada's second-biggest trade partner behind the U.S. Hoping to push that figure higher, a new renminbi, or RMB, trading hub in Toronto. And Canadian companies are rushing to cash in. Kristiaan Yeo filed this report live from Toronto.

Follow Kristiaan Yeo on Twitter @ThatsTheLatest

Highlights:

  • Accepting Chinese payments, in the form of renminbi, or RMB, has been a challenge. But that’s set to change with the opening of an RMB trading hub in Toronto. It aims to make payments from China to Canada, easier, faster and cheaper.
  • For Canadian companies, there was never a way to directly convert renminbi to Canadian dollars. It would have to be exchanged for U.S. dollars or British pounds or Euros first and then converted to Canadian currency. The trading hub means Canadians can take payment in renminbi, keep it in an account here and convert it to Canadian dollars when they want to.