Carney, top EU official push Canada associate membership, wider alliance against Trump threats
MONTREAL: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and the European Union’s top official pushed Thursday to make Canada the bloc’s first “associate member” and build a broader alliance open to other countries as they warned of threats to sovereignty from economic coercion during US President Donald Trump’s trade war.
Speaking in Montreal on Thursday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Canada and the EU would form the core of the proposed “Alliance for the Future,” but other like-minded countries would be welcome to join.
Echoing Carney’s warning at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, von der Leyen said economic relationships once considered sources of stability were increasingly being used as instruments of pressure.
“When trade becomes a tool of economic pressure, it is families that pay the price, from the supermarket shelf to the cost of a new car,” she said. “We are seeing in real time our sovereignty being attacked.”
Carney said the alliance would help Canada withstand economic shocks and prevent foreign governments and technology companies from dictating its choices.
“Why does sovereignty matter in a dangerous and divided world? It allows us to withstand shocks,” Carney said at a news conference. “It allows us to live our lives as we choose.”
Von der Leyen said the broader alliance would go beyond Canada’s potential associate membership, focusing on critical minerals, resilient supply chains, defense and security.
“This is a wider concept,” she said at a business roundtable alongside Carney. “Other like-minded trusted partners are welcome.”
Trump has suggested Canada’s proposed EU arrangement could be a “hostile act” and threatened tariffs on Europe if he considered it unfriendly. Asked Wednesday about possible retaliation, a senior Canadian government official told reporters the closer relationship was not directed against the United States but reflected longstanding shared interests.
The White House said Thursday that US trade and commerce officials had held discussions with their Canadian counterparts in recent days. The statement came in response to a question about Canada’s pursuit of closer ties with the EU.
Carney played down the importance of the “associate member” designation, which von der Leyen continues to champion despite resistance from some European governments.
“This new alliance is not a marketing exercise. The name doesn’t matter,” he said.
Carney later used the term “associate member” himself while sitting beside von der Leyen at a business roundtable, emphasizing the economic opportunities closer cooperation could create.
The summit puts Carney’s vision for a new global order to the test. At Davos, he warned that the US-led international order was breaking down and economic integration was increasingly being weaponized. He urged middle powers to unite against coercion by more powerful countries.
“We can no longer let ourselves be shackled by the limits of the old-world order,” von der Leyen said Thursday. “We need to imagine partnerships that are built on trust and driven by common interests and beliefs. As Mark Carney has said, the international order will also be built from Europe, with Canada as part of it.”
