Carney Pivots Canada Toward Europe as Trump Upends Old US Ties

Canada is moving to reshape its economic relationships after nearly four decades of deepening integration with the United States, with Prime Minister Mark Carney pursuing closer ties to Europe and other partners to reduce dependence on a single market.

Carney has embraced the idea of Canada becoming the European Union's first associate member, framing it not as a step toward full membership but as a way to lower reliance on any one country without surrendering decision-making control. The proposal is still at an early stage, as the associate-membership category does not yet exist.

Speaking alongside French President Emmanuel Macron in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, the French territory off Newfoundland's coast, Carney said Canada and Europe would build an alliance for the future to strengthen collective resilience. He told the European Parliament that countries need enough economic weight to prevent any single power from dictating their choices.

His schedule has reflected that urgency. In a single week he hosted major investors in Toronto, travelled to Strasbourg for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's State of the European Union address, met Britain's new prime minister in Liverpool, returned to Strasbourg to address the European Parliament, held talks with Macron, and then flew back to Ottawa to meet Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. He is due to open a new session of Parliament before attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

US President Donald Trump has suggested Canada's closer relationship with the EU could amount to a hostile act and has threatened heavy tariffs on Europe if he deems the move unfriendly. Carney has said there is now a price to be paid for access to the US market, citing tariffs, investment commitments and demands for domestic policy changes.

The shift follows the 1989 Canada-US Free Trade Agreement and later NAFTA, which deepened cross-border supply chains in autos, energy and manufacturing. About 70% of Canadian exports go to the United States, and Europe is not close to replacing that market. Carney walked away from trade negotiations with Washington in August rather than accept terms he said Ottawa could not live with, and the talks remain suspended.

Carney wants to double non-US trade over the next decade and aims for a free-trade deal with India by the end of the year. He has said Canada's tariff-free access to 1.5 billion consumers could double within six months. An October 29-30 Canada-EU summit in Montreal is the next major step.

Dominic Barton, Carney's pick to chair Invest in Canada and a former Canadian ambassador to China, said diversification does not mean abandoning the United States but rather being more ambitious elsewhere. He described Trump's pressure as a jolt Canada should use to build more global companies.

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said trust is the most sought-after commodity today, adding that the world and America have changed. Former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper said the government had no choice but to take this path, calling it sad but necessary, and arguing that the current US administration views economic integration as incompatible with Canadian sovereignty.