Canadian Officials Talking Reciprocity for Cnooc-Nexen Approval

Over at Canada Real Time, colleague Karen Johnson reports on some recent comments from top Canadian politicians about the Chinese oil giant Cnooc's plan to acquire Canada's Nexen Inc. for $15.1 billion. The politicians are hinting they may be looking for free trade,  reciprocity in Canadian, with China.

After weeks of radio silence on the merits of Cnooc Ltd.'s proposed $15.1-billion takeover offer for Nexen Inc., Canadian officials are suddenly talking about it … sort of.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Industry Minsiter Christian Paradis have both avoided talking in detail about how the government views the proposed deal ever since it was announced in late July. But recently all of a sudden, they're giving some hints about what they may be looking for in return from China: Reciprocity.

On Tuesday, Mr. Paradis, whose portfolio includes approving big foreign deals, stayed clear of saying any sort of market reciprocity was a specific condition for the deal to go forward. But he echoed comments last week by the PM, who suggested that would be part of the process.

Continue reading about the Prime Minister's and other political comments at Canada.