The proposal to bring Canada closer to the European Union comes as both sides confront growing uncertainty over their economic relationships with the United States.
STRASBOURG, France — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday floated the idea of Canada becoming the European Union’s first associate member, an unusually bold move as President Donald Trump’s threats push Ottawa toward deeper ties with Europe.
Trump’s tariffs, along with his repeated remarks about making Canada the 51st U.S. state, have strained relations between the two North American neighbors. Canada is looking to curb its reliance on the United States, which receives about 70% of Canadian exports, while Prime Minister Mark Carney has urged the creation of a “unique alliance” with the EU.
During her annual State of the European Union speech, von der Leyen said the EU and Canada would expand on their existing free trade deal, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA. Their proposed “Alliance for the Future” would seek to establish “a common prosperity and economic security space.”
Von der Leyen presented the closer partnership as one founded on more than commerce, emphasizing the democratic principles shared by Europe and Canada.
“Above all, dear Mark, Europe and Canada believe in democracy,” von der Leyen told Carney, who received a standing ovation at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Carney is scheduled to address Parliament on Thursday.
Canada seeks a relationship just short of EU membership
A Canadian official familiar with the talks told The Associated Press last week that Ottawa was examining an EU relationship that would fall just short of full membership. Under a wider strategic partnership, Canada would pursue an arrangement enabling Canadians to live and work in Europe without visas, the official said.
Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada’s ambassador-designate to the EU, said Wednesday that Canadian and European officials had discussed associate membership before von der Leyen delivered her speech, and that Ottawa knew the idea “was on the table.” Canada had raised the prospect of an “Alliance for the Future,” he said, while EU officials had proposed associate membership.
Canada is not pursuing full EU membership because doing so would mean giving up some sovereignty, Wilkinson said. Instead, Ottawa wants “to get as close as we possibly can” to the bloc in a manner that reinforces, rather than weakens, Canadian sovereignty.
Carney’s office welcomed von der Leyen’s proposal, saying Canada was strengthening its EU ties “to strengthen our sovereignty” and backed an expanded relationship that goes beyond CETA.
Canada has already joined the EU’s defense procurement program
Von der Leyen said the expanded partnership would cover advanced manufacturing, technology, defense production, the Arctic, energy, critical minerals, batteries, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, cybersecurity and economic security.
“This is a partnership not against anyone else, but for our common strength,” she said. “In short, we want to bring the relationship with Canada to the highest level possible.”
Because Canada joining the EU as an associate member would be a first, there is no rulebook on how that would work or what it would mean in practice. It is unclear who would need to approve membership, and how long that could take.
Wilkinson said Ottawa and Brussels are deliberately focusing first on the substance of the relationship rather than what to call it. “Before you actually get to the point where you decide what you’re going to call something, you should actually know the shape,” he said.
He said the shape is likely to become clearer at the Canada-EU summit in October, when the two sides expect to make an announcement and may settle on how to describe it.
Currently, all steps toward EU membership must be approved unanimously by the 27 member countries.
The idea of associate membership has been floated in the past for Ukraine, or for post-Brexit Britain, but no concrete steps have been taken.
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Beyond trade: Canada and EU explore a broader alliance
The relationship between Canada and the European Union has reached a point where the two sides need to move beyond rhetoric and start building something more substantive, said Tobias Cremer, a German member of the European Parliament.
“Now is the time to stop sending each other love letters and put meat on the bone,” said Cremer, from the center-left Social Democrats.
He argued that any new arrangement should be more ambitious than another trade or defense agreement, describing the goal as a more holistic strategic alliance between Canada and the EU.
Existing frameworks such as CETA could provide a foundation, Cremer said, but should be used more fully and expanded. The case for closer ties, he said, is increasingly being driven by geopolitics as much as economics.
The aim, he said, should ultimately be bigger than a bilateral arrangement — potentially positioning the EU as a convener of middle powers, an idea Carney has also raised.
Canada this year became the first non-European country to join the EU’s 150-billion-euro ($173-billion) SAFE defense program, giving Canadian companies access to joint procurement as Europe seeks to increase its defense readiness.
Iratxe García Pérez, president of the Socialists & Democrats group in the European Parliament, praised Carney for showing “great courage confronting Donald Trump” and said allies were needed to defend “sovereignty, solidarity and international law.”
Carney said Tuesday that economic integration, once viewed largely as an asset, is increasingly “being used as a weapon by certain countries.” Discussions will ramp up at the Canada-EU summit in late October, he said.
Trump rupture accelerates Canada’s turn toward Europe
Canada has retaliated against U.S. tariffs and rejected trade terms Carney says would weaken its sovereignty.
The EU has taken a different course with Washington, reaching a trade agreement that set a 15% U.S. tariff ceiling on the vast majority of EU exports while Europe eliminated tariffs on U.S. industrial goods.
That contrast has loomed over Carney’s push for closer European ties. In a closely watched speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, he urged middle powers to work together to increase their leverage in an era of great-power rivalry.
“When we only negotiate bilaterally with a hegemon, we negotiate from weakness. We accept what is offered,” Carney said.
“This is not sovereignty,” he said. “It is the performance of sovereignty while accepting subordination.”
Carney’s Davos speech drew a personal rebuke from Trump, and von der Leyen’s overture to America’s neighbor could raise the temperature again.
Associated Press writer Sam McNeil in Brussels contributed to this report.