Dominic Barton on Canada-China relations, future at Rio Tinto

Dominic Barton sits down with BNN Bloomberg for an exclusive interview to discuss his role in the release of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, Canada’s relationship with China and the U.S., and his future with Rio Tinto.

The detention of the Canadians for almost three years was largely seen as retaliation for the arrest of Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.’s Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver on Dec. 1, 2018.

Kovrig and Spavor were released just hours after the case against Meng was dropped on Sept. 24, 2021.

In an exclusive interview on Thursday, Barton said he hasn’t felt comfortable speaking about the experience as he thought he would “start crying” and that the whole event was “too emotional,” until now.