Carney welcomes proposed EU associate membership for Canada

Strasbourg, France. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed a proposal for Canada to become an associate member of the European Union, telling EU lawmakers that closer ties would strengthen prosperity, sovereignty and resilience.

Call for deeper partnership

“Europe and Canada are each strong. Europe and Canada are even stronger together,” Carney told the European Parliament on Thursday.

“I am not proposing a third bloc in order to become a great-power rival – only with better manners,” he said. “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.”

The EU and Canada have faced trade pressure from the administration of US President Donald Trump, as well as rivalry from an increasingly assertive China.

Trump threatens tariffs

Trump said late on Wednesday that he could impose further tariffs on Europe or halt trade in many goods if the EU moved ahead with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s proposal.

“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 while travelling to an event in North Carolina, calling the proposal “laughable”.

“If it’s a good intention, that’s fine. If it’s a bad intention, we’ll put very heavy tariffs on Europe,” he added.

Commission response

The European Commission said the proposal, which has yet to be developed and would require approval from EU member states, was not directed against any other party.

“As our President (von der Leyen) made clear yesterday, the proposed strengthening of our partnership with Canada is not against anyone else, but for our common strength,” European Commission spokesperson Olof Gill said.