China-Canada Joint Economic and Trade Committee announces extension of preferential access for Canadian lobster and crab to China through end of 2028

On November 6, 2026, the China-Canada Joint Economic and Trade Committee meeting announced that the arrangement for Canadian goods to enter the Chinese market under preferential conditions has been extended through the end of 2028, covering crab and lobster. Canada was represented by Minister of International Trade Maninder Sidhu, and China by Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao.

This arrangement stems from a preliminary agreement reached by the two sides in January this year. The document set out preferential access conditions for Canadian agricultural products, food and seafood entering the Chinese market. What was announced at the Joint Economic and Trade Committee meeting was a further two-year extension of the above preferential access, through the end of 2028.

According to a press release issued by the Government of Canada, the extension agreement should provide more predictable working conditions for Canadian fishermen, agricultural producers and exporters. Canada assesses that maintaining stable access to the Chinese market will help expand exports.

The two sides also stated that they will continue negotiations on expanding bilateral trade. The Government of Canada's goal is to increase exports to China by 50%, and Ottawa regards developing trade relations with China as part of its overall policy of diversifying foreign markets and enhancing the resilience of the national economy.

At the customs statistics level, in April 2026 China imported 14.595 tonnes of warm-water shrimp (penaeid shrimp, including whiteleg shrimp, black tiger shrimp, etc., under customs commodity classification HS 0306.17, which is a commodity classification rather than a single biological species) from Canada, with an import value of USD 43,952.0 and an average import price of USD 3,011.44 per tonne. This data set comes from the General Administration of Customs' April 2026 import and export statistics and follows the customs import and export basis; it is a different indicator from catch volume, aquaculture production and market spot prices.