Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney outlined plans for deeper ties with the European Union on Thursday, a day after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed working towards a new form of “associate membership” for Canada.
Carney welcomed the prospect of a closer partnership, although he stopped short of endorsing the proposed label, saying that the name given to the relationship was less important than its substance.
“Canada welcomes this ambition,” Carney told EU lawmakers in a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, drawing applause.
“An alliance for the future is a unique, positive approach that we will define together, building on our common strengths and based on our shared values,” Carney said.
“Canada and Europe should secure our strategic autonomy through deep cooperation, in the full range of strategic capabilities, including critical minerals, defence industrial capacity, AI and compute, energy security, space and payments,” he said.
Although the status of associated EU member does currently not exist, von der Leyen said that the pact should cover collaboration in several key industry areas.
Carney said that an enhanced relationship should also bring Ottawa access to the EU’s popular student exchange programme Erasmus and the bloc’s research funding programme Horizon.
Trump threatens EU over Canada plans
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened further tariffs on the European Union if the bloc allowed Canada to become an associate member, saying such a move could be a “hostile act.”
The European Commission pushed back on Thursday, saying closer ties with Canada were “not against anyone.”
“The proposed strengthening of our partnership is not against anyone, but for our common strength,” a Commission spokesman said.
Carney, meanwhile, stressed that he was “not proposing a third bloc in order to become a great power rival only with better manners.”
“We do not seek power to dominate others. On the contrary, we are pursuing resilience so no one, no one can control our open markets, impair our sovereignty, threaten our territorial integrity, or undermine our freedoms, our democracies, our rule of law,” he said.
Carney has sought to deepen ties with the EU, Canada’s second-largest trading partner, as relations with the United States, Ottawa’s largest economic partner, have become severely strained under Trump.
