OTTAWA—The Trudeau government asked the Trump administration to ensure China releases two detained Canadian men if — as U.S. President Donald Trump suggested last month — the U.S. drops Meng Wanzhou’s extradition request as part of negotiations for a trade deal with China, the Star has learned.

A senior Canadian official speaking on condition of anonymity told the Star that the Trudeau government approached the Americans after Trump said in December he wouldn’t hesitate to intervene in the Meng affair if he could secure a better trade or security deal with China.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who spoke directly with Trump, and other officials in their dealings with the Americans, made it clear that if the U.S. was indeed going to use Meng’s extradition as a bargaining chip, the U.S. needed to make sure that the two Canadians who were taken in retaliation by China are released, according to the senior official who had knowledge of the talks.

The insider said the American side agreed the two detained Canadians should be released, but no one in the administration admitted Meng is a pawn in a larger dispute, and the Canadian government still does not know for sure whether Trump was serious or was just trying to put the Chinese off-guard, the source said.

In fact, “some kind of deal with China” was one of the possible outcomes to the uproar over Meng’s arrest that Canada’s Ambassador to China John McCallum laid bare in an extraordinary news conference on Tuesday.

Read more:

Opinion | Chantal Hébert: Ambassador McCallum’s flip-flop on Meng’s extradition case ramps up the pressure on Ottawa

Canada’s ambassador to China backs Meng’s chances of fighting extradition to the U.S.

Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou has an extra passport that wasn’t listed in court records — and it’s only available to China’s elite

McCallum apologized late Thursday for several of his remarks, saying he “misspoke” when he said Meng had “strong arguments” to fight extradition, but he did not reference or walk back all his comments.

McCallum did not misspeak when he said “some kind of deal with China” might be an option.

McCallum told Chinese-language media Tuesday there were three “options” or ways in which the Meng affair could end. Meng, a Huawei executive, was arrested in Vancouver on Dec. 1.

He said one, Meng could be extradited as the U.S. has requested to face fraud charges, which he said would “not be a happy outcome; two, the U.S. might offer a resolution in the context of its own negotiations with China, or three, she could be released by a Canadian court.

McCallum said: “The second option would be that the United States made some kind of a deal with China, and part of the deal would be that they would no longer seek her extradition. And we would hope, if the U.S. made such a deal, part of the deal would also be to release the two Canadians. So that is an option, but that is more under the control of the United States than it is under the control of Canada.”

It’s that second option that the Canadian official confirmed to the Star was actively pursued by the Trudeau government.

After his remarks in his former riding were revealed to a broad Canadian audience, a storm of criticism erupted, primarily over McCallum’s opining that Meng had “quite good” and “strong arguments” to win her fight against extradition.

He suggested Trump had politicized her arrest, and listed what he saw “strong arguments” for her lawyers to make.

“One, political involvement by comments from Donald Trump in her case; two, there’s an extraterritorial aspect to her case; and three, there’s the issue of Iran sanctions, which are involved in her case, and Canada does not sign onto these Iran sanctions.”

Late Thursday, McCallum apologized in a clear attempt at damage control.

“I regret that my comments with respect to the legal proceedings of Ms. Meng have created confusion. I misspoke.

“These comments do not accurately represent my position on this issue. As the government has consistently made clear, there has been no political involvement in this process.”

He did not, however, offer to resign his position as ambassador and for the second day, Trudeau stood by his envoy when asked if McCallum would be sanctioned or fired.

“Making a change would not help release those Canadians a day sooner,” Trudeau said in New Brunswick.

Trudeau said that remains his government’s priority.

“We will always stay grounded in defence of the rule of law and the integrity of our justice system, which of course includes the capacity for people to defend themselves enthusiastically which will be fully afforded to Ms. Meng and in her rights within the Canadian justice system.”

“Our focus remains making sure that the Canadians arbitrarily detained in China have their rights respected and, indeed, that they have an opportunity to get home as soon as possible.”

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

The rest of McCallum’s statement reverted to the same message, an indication that in spite of initial claims by government officials that he hadn’t strayed too far off-message, his remarks had become a problem.

His predecessors in the job said he never should have spoken the way he did.

Former ambassador to China Guy Saint-Jacques said he believed McCallum had stumbled, not shown the restraint a trained diplomat should, and even as a former politician McCallum should have known not to comment on anything before the courts.

“The result of what Mr. McCallum has said, on the one hand, undermines the legal process; it complicates the job of the minster of justice; it could be perceived as an interference in the legal process and it will confirm the Chinese in their thinking that all this is political and they just have to increase the pressure on Canada and Canada will buckle at some point and just put Mrs. Meng on an aircraft and get rid of the problem.”

Yet Saint-Jacques said McCallum should not be fired because “it would be very difficult to replace him at this stage given the poor state of the relationship.”

“We need someone in place, and it would be too risky to start a process to find a replacement. This could take months. And you need someone.”

China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a daily press briefing that China had taken note of McCallum’s remarks.

“We believe that anyone with normal judgment could see through the nature of this case,” said Hua, in translated remarks posted to the government’s website.

“We hope that the Canadian side will make the right choice instead of risking endangering itself for other’s gains.”

Trump told Reuters on Dec. 11 that “If I think it’s good for the country, if I think it’s good for what will be certainly the largest trade deal ever made — which is a very important thing — what’s good for national security — I would certainly intervene if I thought it was necessary.”

U.S. justice officials testifying at a U.S. senate committee denied the Meng case was being used for any political, diplomatic or other ends.

“We follow the facts and we indicate violations of U.S. law. That’s what we’re doing when we bring those cases, and I think it’s very important for other countries to understand that,” said U.S. Assistant Attorney General John Demers.

“We are not a tool of trade when we bring the cases; that’s what we do when we see them through to their conclusion.”

The U.S. Justice Department stated this week it is proceeding with the request and would meet the Jan. 30 deadline to send supporting documents to the Canadian justice department.

Prosecutors in New York want Meng to face fraud charges for allegedly misleading banks in an effort to skirt U.S. sanctions on doing business in Iran.

Her arrest in Canada infuriated China, and was followed days later by the arrests of diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor, who remain detained on unspecified allegations of endangering China’s national security.

Read more about: