Canadian PM Mark Carney delivers a speech during a formal sitting at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. (AFP Photo)
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed on Sept. 17 a proposal for Canada to become the European Union’s first “associate member,” calling for closer cooperation including on critical minerals, defense and AI.
“Canada welcomes this ambition,” he told the European Parliament in Strasbourg, referring to the plan floated a day earlier by EU chief Ursula von der Leyen. “Canada and Europe should secure our strategic autonomy through deep cooperation in the full range of strategic capabilities.”
The two sides hold common values and “are stronger together,” the Canadian prime minister added.
“Europe and Canada are each strong. Europe and Canada are even stronger together,” Carney said.
“I am not proposing a third bloc in order to become a great-power rival, only with better manners,” he added.
“We do not seek power to dominate others. On the contrary, we are pursuing resilience so that no one can control our open markets, impair our sovereignty, threaten our territorial integrity, or undermine our freedoms, our democracies, our rule of law.”
Both the EU and Canada have been facing stiff rivalry and pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on trade, among other matters, and from an increasingly assertive China.
Trump threatened late on Sept. 16 to take action against the EU if it moves forward with von der Leyen’s proposal of associate membership for Canada.
“If they do that, if I think it’s at all a hostile act, I will put very serious tariffs or stop trading with Europe on many things,” Trump told reporters en route to an event in North Carolina, calling the proposal “laughable.”
Speaking in the European Parliament, Carney made clear he, like the EU, sought deeper ties.
“We are not fair-weather allies,” he said. “We believe that our prosperity grows when it is shared.”
