Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has welcomed the prospect of his country becoming the European Union’s first associate member, saying such an alliance is aimed to be a “beacon for democracies” and not to “dominate others”. Speaking in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Carney said Canada “welcomes” von der Leyen’s ambition to make the country an associate member. We do not pursue zero-sum deals.
We hold common values for which we have always fought, and in whose defence we must always remain vigilant,” Carney said to applause from European lawmakers. Europe and Canada are stronger together.” “I am not proposing a third bloc in order to become a great-power rival – only with better manners,” he continued. 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.” Carney listed a slew of areas where he wanted to ramp up cooperation.
The EU and Canada have been facing stiff rivalry and pressure from Trump’s administration on trade, among other matters, and from an increasingly assertive China. Trump threatened late on Wednesday to take action against the EU if it moves forward with von der Leyen’s proposal of associate membership for Canada. If it’s a bad intention, we’ll put very heavy tariffs on Europe,” he added.
The European Commission (EC) said von der Leyen’s proposal – which is yet to be fleshed out and will need to be approved by EU member states to go forward – was not a hostile act.
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