In handle to European parliament, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney listed areas the place he desires to spice up cooperation.
Revealed On 17 Sep 2026
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has welcomed the prospect of his nation changing into the European Union’s first affiliate member, saying such an alliance is aimed to be a “beacon for democracies” and to not “dominate others”.
Talking within the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Carney mentioned Canada “welcomes” von der Leyen’s ambition to make the nation an associate member.
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“We aren’t fair-weather allies. We don’t pursue zero-sum offers. We maintain frequent values for which we’ve all the time fought, and in whose defence we should all the time stay vigilant,” Carney mentioned to applause from European lawmakers.
“Canada and Europe are every robust. Europe and Canada are stronger collectively.”
“I’m not proposing a 3rd bloc as a way to grow to be a great-power rival – solely with higher manners,” he continued. “We don’t search energy to dominate others. Quite the opposite, we’re pursuing resilience in order that nobody can management our open markets, impair our sovereignty, threaten our territorial integrity, or undermine our freedoms, our democracies, our rule of regulation.”
Carney listed a slew of areas the place he needed to ramp up cooperation.
“Canada and Europe ought to safe our strategic autonomy by deep cooperation within the full vary of strategic capabilities, together with essential minerals, defence industrial capability, AI and compute, vitality safety, area and funds.”
He additionally mentioned the EU and Canada ought to transfer in direction of “seamless digital commerce” and permit younger individuals from either side to work and examine on both aspect of the Atlantic.
The EU and Canada have been going through stiff rivalry and strain from Trump’s administration on commerce, amongst different issues, and from an more and more assertive China.
Trump threatened late on Wednesday to take motion in opposition to the EU if it strikes ahead with von der Leyen’s proposal of affiliate membership for Canada.
“In the event that they do this, if I believe it’s in any respect a hostile act, I’ll put very severe tariffs or cease buying and selling with Europe on many issues,” Trump instructed reporters, calling the proposal “laughable”.
“If it’s a superb intention, that’s superb. If it’s a nasty intention, we’ll put very heavy tariffs on Europe,” he added.
The European Fee (EC) mentioned von der Leyen’s proposal – which is but to be fleshed out and can must be authorised by EU member states to go ahead – was not a hostile act.
“As our President (von der Leyen) made clear yesterday, the proposed strengthening of our partnership with Canada will not be in opposition to anybody else, however for our frequent energy,” mentioned Olof Gill, an EC spokesperson.
