Canada welcomes EU proposal to become 'associate member'
3 hours ago
- Canadian PM Mark Carney welcomes EU proposal for Canada to become its first 'associate member', emphasizing closer cooperation on defence, critical minerals, and energy security.
- Carney states Canada and Europe are 'stronger together' in the face of 'geopolitical rupture', while US President Trump threatens 'very serious tariffs' if he views the move as a hostile act.
- The proposal comes amid an escalating US-Canada trade dispute, with tit-for-tat tariffs after bilateral talks collapsed.
- Carney stresses the alliance is about sovereignty and not forming a rival bloc, and Canada is not seeking full EU membership.
- The 'associate member' status does not currently exist in the EU and would require agreement from all 27 member states, with implementation possibly taking years.
- Areas of potential cooperation include manufacturing, technology, defence, energy, critical minerals, economic security, and people-to-people ties like joining the Erasmus+ programme.
- A Canada-EU summit is scheduled for October in Montreal to further discuss the proposal.