New Delhi: Amid growing US-Canada tensions, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen Wednesday said the EU would “want to open the door for Canada to be the first associate member”.
“I would like to work with you on opening the door for Canada to be the first associate member of the EU,” von der Leyen told Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney during her annual European.
The EU proposal comes as Canada seeks to deepen its economic and security ties with Europe amid escalating tensions with the United States. US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and repeated suggestions that Canada could become the 51st US state have led Ottawa to look for ways to reduce its dependence on its largest trading partner.
Carney has earlier called for a “unique alliance” with the European Union, arguing that Canada needs to diversify its economic relationships and strengthen its strategic partnerships.
Von der Leyen said Brussels and Ottawa would build on the existing Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA, through a broader initiative called the ‘Alliance for the Future’. The goal, she said, would be to create “a common prosperity and economic security space” linking the two economies more closely.
She framed the proposed partnership as extending well beyond commerce, focusing more on what she described as shared democratic principles.
“Above all, dear Mark, Europe and Canada believe in democracy,” von der Leyen said.
“We believe that power does not belong to the strongest, the richest or the loudest, but to all of us. That democracies have the freedom to choose with whom to work,” she added.
The expanded partnership would encompass advanced manufacturing, technology, defence production, the Arctic, energy, critical minerals, batteries, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, cybersecurity and broader economic security, according to reports.
“This is a partnership not against anyone else, but for our common strength,” von der Leyen said. “In short, we want to bring the relationship with Canada to the highest level possible.”
Canada has responded to US tariffs with retaliatory measures and rejected trade arrangements that Carney has argued could compromise the country’s sovereignty. The European Union, by contrast, reached a trade agreement with Washington under which a 15 percent US tariff applies to European exports, while the bloc agreed to remove tariffs on US industrial goods.
In a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, Carney had called on middle powers to cooperate more closely to increase their leverage as competition among major powers intensifies.
“When we only negotiate bilaterally with a hegemon, we negotiate from weakness. We accept what is offered,” Carney said.
“This is not sovereignty,” he added. “It is the performance of sovereignty while accepting subordination.”
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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