Trudeau Says ‘Australian Colleagues’ Warned on China's Aecon Bid
- Canada rejected CCCI’s Aecon bid, citing security concerns
- Australians highlighted challenges they faced, PM says
This article is for subscribers only.
Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says “Australian colleagues” told his government about the challenges of allowing the Chinese to buy engineering companies before it made the decision to last week reject a bid by a unit of China Communications Construction Co. to purchase Toronto-based Aecon Group Inc.
Canada cited national security concerns as its reason for blocking the C$1.2 billion ($921 million) deal with CCCI. Speaking Tuesday in a wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg, Trudeau said Canada was trying to balance Chinese investment and Canadian sovereignty and said again that Canadian national security agencies recommended nixing the deal.