LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Liverpool manager Arne Slot confirmed on Thursday an agreement reached with Parma to sign teenage defender Giovanni Leoni.
Slot, however, refused to discuss any potential deal for another center back — England international Marc Guehi — and said any comments would need to come from his club, Crystal Palace.
The 18-year-old Leoni previously played for Padova and Sampdoria before impressing at Parma after joining in the offseason of 2024. He is an Italy Under-19 international.
“The clubs have agreed (on) a deal but he hasn’t signed for us yet,” Slot said of Leoni, “so the moment when he signs for us, I can go into more detail.”
On a possible deal for Guehi, who has one year left on his contract at Palace, Slot was more circumspect. He didn’t mention the player’s name specifically but did say “unfortunately he was the captain of the team who we lost against last Sunday” — referring to Liverpool losing to Palace in the Community Shield on Sunday.
“If you want to have any talks about him, you should go to Palace and (manager Oliver) Glasner and ask his opinion about it,” Slot said at a news conference ahead of the first match of Liverpool's Premier League title defense, at home to Bournemouth on Friday.
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Liverpool's manager Arne Slot reacts during the FA Community Shield final soccer match between Liverpool and Crystal Palace at Wembley Stadium in London,Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)
BEIJING (AP) — Canada, breaking with the U.S., has agreed to cut its 100% tariff on Chinese electric cars in return for lower tariffs on Canadian farm products, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday.
Carney made the announcement after two days of meetings with Chinese leaders. He said there would be an initial cap of 49,000 vehicles on Chinese EV exports to Canada.
China will reduce its tariff on canola seeds, a major Canadian export, to from about 84% to about 15%, he told reporters.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
BEIJING (AP) — Faced with new global challenges, the leaders of China and Canada pledged Friday to improve relations between their two nations after years of acrimony.
Xi Jinping told visiting Prime Minister Mark Carney that he is willing to continue working to improve ties, noting that talks have been underway on restoring and restarting cooperation since the two held an initial meeting in October on the sidelines of a regional economic conference in South Korea.
“It has been a historic and productive two days,” Carney said, delivering a statement to journalists outside a Beijing park Friday afternoon. “We have to understand the differences between Canada and other countries, and focus our efforts to work together where we’re aligned."
“It can be said that our meeting last year opened a new chapter in turning China–Canada relations toward improvement,” China's top leader said.
Carney, the first Canadian prime minister to visit China in eight years, said better relations would help improve a global governance system that he described as “under great strain.”
He called for a new relationship “adapted to new global realities” and cooperation in agriculture, energy and finance.
Those new realities reflect in large part the so-called America-first approach of U.S. President Donald Trump. The tariffs he has imposed have hit both the Canadian and Chinese economies. Carney, who has met with several leading Chinese companies in Beijing, said ahead of his trip that his government is focused on building an economy less reliant on the U.S. at what he called “a time of global trade disruption.”
A Canadian business owner in China called Carney's visit game-changing, saying it re-establishes dialogue, respect and a framework between the two nations.
“These three things we didn’t have,” said Jacob Cooke, the CEO of WPIC Marketing + Technologies, which helps exporters navigate the Chinese market. “The parties were not talking for years.”
No announcement was made on tariffs between China and Canada, which is a sticking point in the relationship.
Canada followed the U.S. in putting tariffs of 100% on EVs from China and 25% on steel and aluminum under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Carney’s predecessor.
China responded by imposing duties of 100% on Canadian canola oil and meal and 25% on pork and seafood. It added a 75.8% tariff on canola seeds last August. Collectively, the import taxes effectively closed the Chinese market to Canadian canola, an industry group has said. Overall, China's imports from Canada fell 10.4% last year to $41.7 billion, according to Chinese trade data.
China is hoping Trump’s pressure tactics on allies such as Canada will drive them to pursue a foreign policy that is less aligned with the United States. The U.S. president has suggested Canada could become America's 51st state.
Carney departs China on Saturday and visits Qatar on Sunday before attending the annual gathering of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland next week. He will meet business leaders and investors in Qatar to promote trade and investment, his office said.
Associated Press business writer Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong contributed to this report.
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, center, arrives to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, Pool)
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, shakes hands with China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)
