STRASBOURG: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday welcomed the European Union's ambition to make Ottawa an associate member of the 27-nation bloc, telling EU lawmakers that Canadian legislators would ultimately vote on the final structure of any alliance.
"Canada and Europe are each strong. Europe and Canada are stronger together," Carney told the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
Carney did not name President Donald Trump in his speech but appeared to reference his tariff policies, saying economic integration was being "weaponized" and that financial mechanisms had been used for coercion.
His remarks came shortly after Trump described the prospect of Canada becoming the EU's first associate member as "laughable" and threatened the bloc with tariffs if he judged the move to be a "hostile act." Speaking to reporters in North Carolina, Trump called Canada a "terrible trade partner" and said the U.S. could curtail trade with Europe if the EU pressed ahead. "If it's a good intention, that's fine. If it's a bad intention, we'll put very heavy tariffs on Europe," he said.
The Trump administration recently raised tariffs on Canadian goods, and Carney has pledged dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday the EU wanted to elevate its relationship with Canada "to the highest level possible." Addressing Carney, who attended her State of the Union address, she said she wanted to work with him on opening the door to associate membership. Such a category does not currently exist under EU treaties and would need to be created and ratified by member states.
At a news conference following his speech, Carney said a closer partnership with Europe would make Canada "a more effective partner with the United States," not a rival power bloc. "I'm not proposing a third bloc in order to become a great power rival, only with better manners," he said, adding that Canada was pursuing resilience, not dominance.
Asked whether Canadian lawmakers would get a say, Carney said there would be multiple debates and "a vote in the Canadian Parliament," though he cautioned that "we are at the start of a road."
The EU has previously resisted flexible membership arrangements — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz raised a similar associate-membership idea earlier this year for Ukraine. Von der Leyen's endorsement of the concept for Canada signals a deepening of ties between Ottawa and Brussels amid Canada's ongoing trade dispute with Washington.
The EU and Canada already have a free trade pact, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, which eliminated 99% of tariff lines when it took provisional effect in 2017. "We will move from CETA to an alliance for the future, to create a common prosperity and economic security space," von der Leyen said, adding that the two sides would cooperate on artificial intelligence, climate change, geopolitics and Arctic security.
Before returning to Strasbourg, Carney met Wednesday with British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, watching an Everton match in Liverpool, England. Downing Street said the two discussed building closer European ties on trade and defense, including cooperation between the Multilateral Defence Mechanism and the Canada-led Defence Security Resilience Bank.
