Trump threatens EU over ‘hostile’ Canada association plan

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US President Donald Trump threatened on Wednesday to cut trade with the European Union after the bloc proposed to make Canada its first-ever associate member.

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EU chief Ursula von der Leyen raised the prospect a day before Canadian leader Mark Carney was due to address the European Parliament.

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Her pitch comes as both Canada and the EU seek to pivot away from an aggressive United States under Trump’s leadership.

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“I think it’s laughable,” Trump told reporters when asked about the plan.

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“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.”

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

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Von der Leyen pitched closer cooperation on tech, defence and energy to Carney, who became the first non-European head of government to attend the annual “State of the European Union” speech.

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The German told the European Parliament in Strasbourg that, as democracies face a “fracture in the international rules-based system,” Brussels and Ottawa needed to pull closer together.

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“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 the Canadian premier, drawing a standing ovation in the chamber.

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– A broader alliance –

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Carney has been pursuing closer ties with the EU as Canada gets drawn ever deeper into a trade war with the United States.

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He is set to address Parliament on Thursday, with his visit meant to act as a catalyst ahead of an EU-Canada summit in Montreal next month.

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Von der Leyen said it was time to move from cooperation based on trade to a broader “alliance for the future” and “bring the relationship with Canada to the highest level possible.”

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“We will work on intelligent manufacturing. We will create a tech alliance. We will integrate defence industrial bases. We will make the Arctic a flagship joint project,” she said.

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She listed energy, critical minerals, batteries, AI, cyber and economic security as other fields of cooperation.

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“This is a partnership not against anyone else, but for our common strength,” she said.

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But both the EU and Canada have been buffeted by tariffs and territorial threats from the US and competition from China.

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“In a more dangerous and divided world, Canada is forging stronger relationships with trusted partners,” Carney’s office said in a statement.

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– What’s in a name –

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While EU treaties do not envision the possibility of becoming an “associate member,” the idea was first floated by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz this year for Ukraine.

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Under that plan, which met a cold reception from a country pushing for full membership, Ukraine would have been allowed to attend the bloc’s summits and have a representative in the European Commission.

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It would have also benefited from parts of the EU budget, but without full voting rights.

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“We don’t really know yet what it means,” said Tobias Cremer, a centre-left European lawmaker from Germany and the main sponsor of a resolution urging stronger EU-Canada cooperation, after von der Leyen’s “associate membership” pitch.

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Under EU rules, member states have to approve any form of partnership with a third country, and it was unclear how much support von der Leyen’s proposal would receive from capitals.

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Brussels and Ottawa already enjoy a considerable level of cooperation.

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The CETA free-trade agreement that abolished almost all tariffs has been credited with boosting trade in goods and services by more than 80 per cent since 2016.

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And this year Canada became the first non-EU country to join a flagship defence loan programme.

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Carney later flew to Britain for his first meeting with new UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham.

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They attended a football match between Everton and Wolverhampton together before Carney’s return to Strasbourg for his Thursday speech.

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AFP

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