By Jahanzaib Saqib — SCN News
STRASBOURG, France — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday welcomed a proposal for Canada to become the European Union's first “associate member,” saying closer ties with Europe would be a positive step as Ottawa seeks deeper cooperation in trade, defence and strategic industries. Speaking to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Carney backed the ambition behind the proposal while stressing that Canada was not seeking full membership of the 27-nation bloc. The details and even the eventual name of the arrangement have yet to be agreed.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed the unprecedented status a day earlier, saying she wanted to take the EU's relationship with Canada to a new level. No formal category of EU “associate membership” currently exists, meaning Brussels and Ottawa would have to determine what rights, obligations and market access such an arrangement would provide. Carney said the substance of the partnership mattered more than the terminology used to describe it.
“We welcome this ambition,” Carney told European lawmakers, adding that polling showed strong Canadian support for closer relations with Europe. He said Canada wanted deeper cooperation with the EU in critical minerals, defence, artificial intelligence, energy security and digital trade, while also exploring greater opportunities for young Canadians and Europeans to live, work and study on either side of the Atlantic. Carney also raised the prospect of closer integration in financial services and payments.
The initiative comes as Canada accelerates efforts to diversify its economic and security relationships beyond the United States. Carney's government has made reducing Canada's exposure to external trade shocks a central part of its international strategy, arguing that closer partnerships with Europe can strengthen economic resilience and sovereignty. Before travelling to Strasbourg, his office said European partners were increasingly important to Canada's efforts to create greater certainty, security and prosperity.
Carney said the proposed relationship should not be interpreted as an attempt to create another geopolitical bloc to compete with major powers. Canada and Europe, he said, should instead cooperate to ensure that no single country can dominate their markets, weaken their sovereignty or undermine democratic institutions and the rule of law. He described Canada and Europe as longstanding partners whose common interests now extend increasingly into economic and national security.
The proposal has drawn a sharp response from U.S. President Donald Trump, who said Washington could regard the arrangement as a “hostile act” if it were intended to work against the United States. Trump threatened serious tariffs against the EU if he concluded that the initiative had hostile intentions. Carney rejected that framing on Thursday, saying the deepening Canada-EU relationship was a positive initiative in its own right rather than a reaction to another country.
European officials have also rejected suggestions that closer cooperation with Canada is directed against Washington, although questions remain within the bloc over how an associate arrangement would work. Some EU diplomats have expressed reservations about the concept and the degree of support it could command among member states. Any new framework would have to reconcile Canada's desire for deeper access and cooperation with the EU's existing treaties and decision-making structures.
Canada and the EU already have an extensive economic relationship through the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, known as CETA, while cooperation has expanded into security and defence. Canada has also joined the EU's SAFE defence procurement initiative, giving Canadian companies greater access to European defence opportunities. The proposed new relationship would seek to build on those existing arrangements rather than replace them.
Ottawa and Brussels are expected to work on the details in the coming weeks, with Canadian officials saying a clearer framework could emerge at the Canada-EU summit scheduled for Montreal in late October. Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada's incoming ambassador to the EU, has said both the name and specific elements of the partnership are still being developed. Carney said any eventual agreement would be debated and voted on by Canada's Parliament.
For now, Carney's endorsement gives political momentum to von der Leyen's proposal without committing Canada to a defined form of EU association. The next negotiations will determine whether the phrase “associate member” becomes a formal new relationship or simply a label for deeper cooperation in selected sectors. What is already clear is that Ottawa and Brussels intend to push their relationship beyond the traditional boundaries of CETA and into areas increasingly linked to economic and national security.