Canada’s Carney welcomes EU’s associated membership proposal

In address to European parliament, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney listed areas where he wants to boost cooperation.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney delivers a speech at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France on September 17, 2026 [Jean-Christophe Verhaegen/AFP]

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has welcomed the prospect of his country becoming the European Union’s first associate member, saying such an alliance is aimed to be a “beacon for democracies” and not to “dominate others”.

Speaking in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Carney said Canada “welcomes” von der Leyen’s ambition to make the country an associate member .

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“We are not fair-weather allies. We do not pursue zero-sum deals. We hold common values for which we have always fought, and in whose defence we must always remain vigilant,” Carney said to applause from European lawmakers.

“Canada and Europe are each strong. Europe and Canada are stronger together.”

“I am not proposing a third bloc in order to become a great-power rival – only with better manners,” he continued. “We do not seek power to dominate others. On the contrary, we are pursuing resilience so that no one can control our open markets, impair our sovereignty, threaten our territorial integrity, or undermine our freedoms, our democracies, our rule of law.”

Carney listed a slew of areas where he wanted to ramp up cooperation.

“Canada and Europe should secure our strategic autonomy through deep cooperation in the full range of strategic capabilities, including critical minerals, defence industrial capacity, AI and compute, energy security, space and payments.”

He also said the EU and Canada should move towards “seamless digital trade” and allow young people from both sides to work and study on either side of the Atlantic.

The EU and Canada have been facing stiff rivalry and pressure from Trump’s administration on trade, among other matters, and from an increasingly assertive China.

Trump threatened late on Wednesday to take action against the EU if it moves forward with von der Leyen’s proposal of associate membership for Canada.

“If they do that, if I think it’s at all a hostile act , I will put very serious tariffs or stop trading with Europe on many things,” Trump told reporters, calling the proposal “laughable”.

“If it’s a good intention, that’s fine. If it’s a bad intention, we’ll put very heavy tariffs on Europe,” he added.

The European Commission (EC) said von der Leyen’s proposal – which is yet to be fleshed out and will need to be approved by EU member states to go forward – was not a hostile act.

“As our President (von der Leyen) made clear yesterday, the proposed strengthening of our partnership with Canada is not against anyone else, but for our common strength,” said Olof Gill, an EC spokesperson.

加拿大总理马克·卡尼在欧洲议会发表讲话时，列举了他希望加强合作的领域。

2026年9月17日，加拿大总理马克·卡尼在法国斯特拉斯堡的欧洲议会发表讲话。[Jean-Christophe Verhaegen/AFP]

加拿大总理马克·卡尼对加拿大成为欧盟第一个准成员国的前景表示欢迎，称这样的联盟旨在成为“民主国家的灯塔”，而不是“支配其他国家”。

卡尼在斯特拉斯堡的欧洲议会发表讲话时表示，加拿大“欢迎”冯德莱恩希望加拿大成为欧盟联系成员国的愿望。

欧盟三个成员国中，第一个将提高北极战略地位，因为北极已成为重要的地缘政治前沿。

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卡尼说：“我们不是同甘共苦的盟友。我们不追求零和博弈。我们拥有共同的价值观，我们一直为之奋斗，并且必须始终保持警惕，捍卫这些价值观。”此言一出，赢得了欧洲议员们的掌声。

“加拿大和欧洲各自都很强大。加欧携手合作会更加强大。”

“我提议建立第三个阵营，并非为了成为大国竞争对手——只是想举止更加得体，”他继续说道。“我们追求的不是支配他人的权力。相反，我们追求的是韧性，以确保任何人都无法控制我们的开放市场，损害我们的主权，威胁我们的领土完整，或破坏我们的自由、民主和法治。”

卡尼列举了一系列他希望加强合作的领域。

“加拿大和欧洲应该通过在包括关键矿产、国防工业能力、人工智能和计算、能源安全、太空和支付在内的所有战略能力领域进行深入合作，来确保我们的战略自主性。”

他还表示，欧盟和加拿大应该朝着“无缝数字贸易”的方向发展，并允许大西洋两岸的年轻人工作和学习。

欧盟和加拿大在贸易等问题上一直面临着来自特朗普政府的激烈竞争和压力，同时还面临着来自日益强势的中国的压力。

特朗普周三晚些时候威胁说，如果欧盟推进冯德莱恩提出的加拿大加入欧盟的提议，他将对欧盟采取行动。

“如果他们这样做，如果我认为这是一种敌对行为，我将对许多商品征收非常严厉的关税，或者停止与欧洲的贸易，”特朗普告诉记者，称该提议“可笑”。

“如果是出于好意，那很好。如果是恶意行为，我们将对欧洲征收非常高的关税，”他补充道。

欧盟委员会表示，冯德莱恩的提议——该提议尚未具体化，需要欧盟成员国批准才能继续推进——并非敌对行为。

欧盟发言人奥洛夫·吉尔表示：“正如我们的主席（冯德莱恩）昨天明确指出的那样，加强我们与加拿大的伙伴关系的提议不是为了对抗任何其他国家，而是为了我们共同的力量。”