Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is visiting Europe this week as his country seeks a closer strategic alliance with the European Union amid its bitter trade war with the United States. At the same time, once-reliable transatlantic relations between Europe and Washington have been strained by US President Donald Trump’s threats of tariffs and his aggressive bid to acquire Greenland, as well as the fallout from the US-Israel war on Iran, which European countries have refused to join. Carney is set to visit Strasbourg in France, and Liverpool in the United Kingdom between September 15 and September 17, according to an official statement.
Here’s what we know about his European ambitions: Carney has said Canada is seeking opportunities to diversify trade and investments, but has not revealed much else officially. In meetings with members of the European Parliament, the prime minister will seek to “strengthen Canada’s ties with the EU in trade, investment, and security”, a government statement announcing his visit read. While some in Carney’s cabinet and in the EU have floated the idea that Canada might be seeking an “associate EU membership”, the prime minister has said that is not an option.
Rather, Canada is looking to start discussions on what he called a “unique alliance”. A senior Canadian official, however, told The news agency that the aim of the visit is to strengthen Canada’s sovereignty; thus, the country would not be willing to give up “our rights to Brussels”. Canada will, however, push for an arrangement that would allow Canadians to live and work in Europe without visas, and that investment would be at the core of the deeper partnership, the official added.
Canadian opposition leader Pierre Poilievre in an X statement on Sunday said the prime minister was “out of touch”. Carney has emphasised Canada’s over-reliance on the US as a trading partner and the need to diversify amid the increasingly fraught trade war with the Trump administration, which has seen both sides impose tit-for-tat trade tariffs. Last month, Trump even renamed Lake Ontario – which lies along the US-Canada border – “Lake America”, in a fit of pique.
Closer ties with the EU could achieve this by generating significantly more trade with Brussels instead of the US, which currently imports more than 70 percent of all Canadian goods, worth more than $300bn a year. Canada’s trade with the EU is currently a distant second to the US and was worth 130 billion euros ($150bn) in 2025. Canadian passport holders can enter the Schengen zone as tourists for only 90 days but will require a permit for longer stays.
It could also mean more travel, work and retirement opportunities for Canadian citizens, analysts say. Similar arrangements between the EU and non-EU member countries within Europe exist. Switzerland, for example, is associated with the EU through several bilateral treaties that mean it has access to the EU single market and the Schengen open border area.
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