Canada-EU alliance isn’t meant to be a US rival with ‘better manners,’ Carney says

CNN

By Hanna Ziady, CNN

London (CNN) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney took a veiled swipe at US President Donald Trump on Thursday, insisting that his proposal to deepen ties with the European Union wasn’t aimed at creating a new geopolitical bloc “with better manners.”

Carney’s comments come a day after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed that Canada become the bloc’s first “associate member” – a designation that does not exist, but which nonetheless provoked a fresh tariff threat from Trump.

Canada and the European Union have both been on the sharp end of Trump’s combative approach to trade, even with allies, spurring them to seek new alliances to shore up their economies.

Carney said a deeper partnership with Europe was intended to create “resilience” rather than “self-sufficiency.”

“I’m not proposing a third bloc in order to become a great power rival, only with better manners,” Carney told EU lawmakers in France.

“We do not seek power to dominate others. On the contrary, we are pursuing resilience so no one can control our open markets, impair our sovereignty, threaten territorial integrity or undermine our freedoms, our democracies, our rule of law.”

He later told reporters that Canadian lawmakers would debate and ultimately vote on the “final structure” of a new alliance with the EU, but stressed that Canada was neither in a position to become a full member of the European Union, nor seeking to be one.

“This is an opportunity to make Canada stronger, more sovereign, more independent, more prosperous, more sustainable,” he said.

Canada is locked in a trade war with the United States, its largest trading partner, lending urgency to efforts to get closer to the EU, which has itself battled numerous trade spats with America.

Trump said Wednesday that the United States could put “heavy tariffs” on the European Union if he considers any new agreement with Canada to be a “hostile act.”

“If it’s a good intention, that’s fine. If it’s a bad intention, we’ll put very heavy tariffs on Europe, which is a possibility,” he told reporters.

EU and Canada ‘stronger together’

During a speech in which he occasionally spoke in French and drew heavily on the historic ties between Canada and the EU, Carney laid out the case for closer cooperation to build resilience against what he called “new storms,” citing climate change, the weaponization of trade and the erosion of democratic norms.

“Europe and Canada are stronger together,” he said. “A Canada-EU alliance would create a beacon for other democracies,” he added, noting that it would be open to other countries to join.

Carney welcomed Von der Leyen’s ambition to make Canada an EU “associate member” and said that an “overwhelming majority” of Canadians also supported closer ties, according to polls.

He said Canada and Europe should cooperate on critical minerals and energy security, touting Canada’s ability to provide Europe with liquefied natural gas and hydrogen.

He also highlighted defense production, payments and artificial intelligence as areas for closer cooperation, saying Europe and Canada could jointly develop AI safety protocols.

Von der Leyen highlighted many of the same areas for cooperation in a speech Wednesday, although, unlike Carney, she made no mention of reciprocal work and study visas for young people.

Carney suggested that Canada should be allowed to join the EU’s coveted Erasmus+ and Horizon programmes, which provide considerable funding to education and scientific research, respectively.

“We should deepen our people-to-people ties, allowing our youth to live, work and study where they want on either side of the Atlantic,” he said. Canada already has reciprocal agreements in place with many EU member states, allowing young people between the ages of 18 and 35 to work and travel in Europe.

Pushback from Germany

Some EU officials have expressed skepticism over the proposal to give Canada a status that does not currently exist.

German government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius told reporters Wednesday that Berlin welcomed the push for an “especially close partnership” with Canada and was open to “discussing new models that reflect the special significance of the relationship,” but that the term “associate member” should be reconsidered.

Carney said the “precise nomenclature” was a “question for Europe.” “What matters is the substance,” he noted. Further details of the partnership could be fleshed out at an EU-Canada investment summit set to take place in Montreal next month.

Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, appeared to support closer ties. During Carney’s speech, Sanchez, who has frequently butted heads with Trump, posted a picture of an EU flag on X with a red maple leaf, Canada’s national symbol, next to the usual 12 golden stars.

“Associate membership does not exist,” said Tinatin Akhvlediani, head of EU enlargement at the Center for European Policy Studies, a Brussels-based think tank. Countries including Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia have “association agreements” in place with the EU, but these entail alignment with the bloc’s laws, something Canada was unlikely to want, she told CNN Wednesday.

Canada and the EU already share a substantial trading relationship, but the CETA trade deal agreed in 2017 has yet to be ratified by 10 EU member states, including France, Italy and Poland – a potential hurdle to deepening the EU-Canada alliance.

Bilateral trade in goods and services reached €130.8 billion ($151 billion) last year, according to the European Commission, up more than 80% over the past decade. Major EU exports to Canada include cars, machinery and pharmaceuticals. Canadian exports to Europe include crude oil, fertilizer, critical minerals and base metals.

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CNN’s Sebastian Shukla and James Frater contributed reporting.