Minister of International Trade Diversification Jim Carr speaks at the Ottawa Ministerial on WTO Reform in Ottawa on Oct. 25, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Canada’s international trade minister insists Ottawa’s decision to pursue sector-by-sector talks with China does not mean a free-trade agreement between the two countries is off the table.

During a call with Finance Minister Bill Morneau and reporters Monday morning from Beijing, Jim Carr said he wouldn’t characterize the two as being in isolation from one another.

“This is a series, it’s a continuum, it’s a progression. It’s going well,” he said. “We’ve moved forward significantly, I would say.”

Along with Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay and Treasury Board Minister Scott Brison, they are in the Chinese capital for the first China-Canada Economic and Financial Strategic Dialogue.

The summit comes amid increased global trade tensions with China, thanks to American tariffs on steel and aluminum products.

Bilateral tensions between Canada and China are also high because of a clause in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) that requires all countries to notify their trading partners if they engage in a free-trade agreement with any “non-market economies,” including China.

Morneau told reporters the atmosphere in the room was “warm and collegial.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has repeatedly insisted Canada remains interested in pursuing increased trade with China. The two countries have been in exploratory free-trade talks since 2016. No formal negotiations have been announced.

Carr confirmed the Chinese had questions about the USMCA and raised them during the summit. He told reporters he assured Chinese officials the clause applies to all members of the trade agreement, including Mexico and the United States, and insisted talks continue.

He added China has been negotiating both sector-by-sector agreements and free-trade agreements for “a very long time.”

Also discussed at the summit were agricultural issues such as canola-seed approvals.

Last week, Canada’s canola industry asked the Canadian government to put pressure on the Chinese government to approve three new biotechnologies the industry says will increase exports by $400 million annually.

The three canola seeds that Canada’s canola industry wants approved are designed to produce plants that are more disease-, drought- and weed-resistant. They were approved in this country in 2012, and have yet to be approved by the Chinese.

Under Canadian rules, new seeds can’t be used in Canada until approval has been secured in this country’s major export markets.

“There are continuing conversations on a whole variety of agricultural issues. We know that China is very important to our canola producers, that 90 per cent of China’s canola comes from Canada, much of it from my home province of Manitoba,” Carr said when asked if the Chinese had approved the new seeds.

He noted MacAulay also raised canola in his discussions with the Chinese this week, adding, “We think there’s a good understanding of the quality of canola and the importance of Canadian canola in the Chinese marketplace.”

The federal agriculture minister wraps up a 15-day trade mission to China on Thursday.

In a release on Monday, the Canola Council of Canada said a commitment to “timely approval processes for biotechnology traits” had been made, an agreement that “could be helpful” on the canola seed front.

“Seed developers have invested hundreds of millions in biotech traits to enable farmers to have better seeds,” Jim Everson, the council’s president said in a release. “We will continue to work with the government of Canada so that farmers will finally be able to put these innovations in their seeders.”

Canada is one of the world’s largest exporters of canola. A Canadian invention, it’s this country’s most valuable crop, contributing more than $26.7 billion to the national economy every year. About 90 per cent of the canola grown in Canada is exported.

Canada and China have agreed to double their agricultural trade by 2025.