Canada and China announce free trade talks

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau greets Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, left, as holds an expanded meeting in the Cabinet room on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP) (The Associated Press)

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, center, takes part in a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, not pictured, in the cabinet room on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP) (The Associated Press)

Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Li Keqiang is welcomed by House of Commons speaker Geoff Regan, left, in Ottawa on Thursday, September 22, 2016., 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand (The Associated Press)

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he's launched exploratory talks toward a free trade deal with China — Canada's second biggest trading partner.

Trudeau made the remarks in a news conference Thursday with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Ottawa. Trudeau says there are also talks about reaching an extradition treaty.

Trudeau visited China earlier this month. Li says back to back visits in less than a month shows that China-Canada relations are moving to a new stage.

Trudeau says they want double bilateral trade by 2025.

China has embraced Trudeau in part because of his father, former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who in 1970 became one of the first Western leaders to establish diplomatic relations with Communist China.