What to know
- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has invited Canada to become the European Union’s first-ever “associate member.”
- Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada welcomes the proposal, but emphasized Parliament will debate and vote on whether to proceed.
- Details of what an EU associate membership would involve have not yet been finalized.
- Carney said a closer Canada-EU partnership could expand cooperation in areas including trade, clean energy, artificial intelligence, research and defence.
- U.S. President Donald Trump criticized the proposal and threatened tariffs on the EU, while Carney said the goal is greater resilience and sovereignty rather than creating a rival power bloc.
After weeks of speculation over a EU-Canada new partnership, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada welcomes an invitation to become an “associate member” of the European Union, with a final decision to come after parliament debate.
Speaking in front of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France on Thursday, the prime minister suggested that Canada and the EU should strengthen their economic relationship.
Carney’s comments came after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen invited Canada to become the EU’s first “associate member” on Wednesday. Since the title would be the first of its kind, details on what this would mean for Canada are not clear at the moment.
However, during his speech on Thursday, the prime minister said he would propose “Canada and Europe should secure our strategic autonomy” through collaboration across several industries, from clean energy to artificial intelligence, to research to defense.
“We should move towards seamless, digital trade and non-agricultural goods and a wide-range of services. We should deepen our people-to-people ties, allowing our youth to work, study, and live where they want on either side of the Atlantic.,” he said.
“A Canada-EU alliance would create a beacon for other democracies, an alliance not defined by what we oppose, but about what we are for: freedom, solidarity, prosperity, sustainability.”
Carney took a jab at the U.S.
Speaking with reporters on Wednesday after von der Leyen’s invitation, U.S. President Donald Trump called the proposal “laughable” and threatened to impose “heavy tariffs” on the EU if he finds the agreement is in “bad intention.”
“I think it’s laughable…If they do that, I think it’s a hostile act. I will put very serious tariffs or stop trading with Europe on many things… If it’s a good intention, that’s fine. If it’s a bad intention, we’ll put very heavy tariffs on Europe,” he told reporters in Washington.
After Trump’s comments, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez posted a photo of the EU flag with a maple leaf close to it on X, gathering thousands of reactions online.
During his speech on Thursday, Carney did not directly cite the U.S. or Trump, but emphasized that strengthening resilience and sovereignty are objectives of the new partnership.
“I’m not proposing a third bloc in order to become a great power rival, only with better manners. We do not seek power to dominate others. On the contrary, we are pursuing resilience so no one can control our open markets, impair our sovereignty, threaten our territorial integrity, or undermine our freedoms, our democracies, our rule of law,” he said.
“Canada and Europe are each strong. Europe and Canada are stronger together… The objective is not self-sufficiency, it’s collective resilience.”
Canada’s associate membership not final
While Carney said on Thursday that Canada welcomes von der Leyen’s first-of-its-kind proposal, the speech is still not an indication that Canada is now an EU associate member.
When asked by reporters on Thursday about the agreement, the prime minister emphasized that Canada is not looking to become a EU member at the moment, and said a debate and vote will be held in Parliament to determine whether it does become an “associate member.”
According to him, the “substance” of the agreement between the EU and Canada also holds more significance than that label.
The official invitation came after the Wall Street Journal first reported the idea of an associate membership between the EU and Canada, since then there has been speculation about a deeper partnership, while no concrete plan was unveiled.
Canada and the EU have been exploring deeper political and economic ties since June 2025, with Canada becoming the first non-European country to become a member of Security Action for Europe (SAFE) in February.
